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(Founded.by  H.  E.  Buchholz) 

BALTIMORE 


THE  PSYCHOLOGY  AND 
PEDAGOGY  OF  ANGER 


COPYRIGHT.  1918 

BY 

WARWICK  *  YORK.  Inc. 


Sikuratiottd  ^aiirliiilogg  i^onogratfijx 

This  volume,  which  is  number  19  in  the 
series,  was    edited    by   J.- Carleton  Bell 


THE   PSYCHOLOGY  AND 
PEDAGOGY   OF   ANGER 


By 

ROY  FRANKLIN  RICHARDSON 

Professor  of  Education,  University  of  Maine 


BALTIMORE 

WARWICK  &  YORK,  Inc. 

19  18 


-K^"-^ 


{< 


<o 


CONTENTS 

Preface    3 

Introduction 5 

CHAPTER  ONl^ 

Mental  Situation  Stimulating  Anger 11 

CHAPTER  TWO 

Behavior  of  Consciousness 31 

CHAPTER  THREE 

Disappearance  of  Anger 53 

CHAPTER  FOUR 

Educational  Function 83 

Bibliography  99 

Index 103 


o  Q  ^  ^  A  ^i 


PREFACE 

The  importance  of  the  study  of  the  emotions  in  relation  to 
human  conduct  is  well  understood.  Just  how  consciousness 
behaves  under  the  influence  of  the  fundamental  human  emo- 
tions like  fear  and  anger,  is  one  of  vital  interest  to  the 
psychologist  and  educator.  It  has  always  been  difficult  to 
study  the  structural  side  of  our  emotions  because  of  an  ina- 
bility to  control  voluntarily  our  emotions  for  purposes 
of  introspection.  The  structure  of  emotions  is  primarily  im- 
portant in  so  far  as  structure  may  allow  an  interpretation  of 
function.  The  study  of  the  emotions  has  for  the  most  part 
been  limited  to  theoretical  discussions  based  on  the  observa- 
tions of  normal  and  abnormal  persons  and  on  the  casual  in- 
trospection of  individual  authors.  This  work  is  an  attempt 
to  study  systematically  the  emotion  of  anger  in  relation  to 
the  behavior  of  consciousness,  the  ideas  and  feelings  asso- 
ciated in  the  development  of  anger,  the  reactive  side  of  con- 
sciousness under  the  influence  of  anger,  individual  differ- 
ences in  behavior,  manner  of  the  disappearance  and  diminuT 
tion  of  anger,  devices  used  in  the  control  and  facilitation  of 
the  emotion,  and  the  conscious  after-effects  including  the 
inter-relation  of  anger  and  other  feelings,  emotions  and  atti- 
tudes which  follow.  The  education  of  the  emotions  was 
first  voiced  by  Aristotle  who  indicated  that  one  of  the  aims 
of  education  should  be  to  teach  men  to  be  angry  aright. 

The  author  is  under  great  obligations  to  President  G. 
Stanley  Hall,  for  without  his  inspiration  the  investigation 
would  never  have  been  begun  or  completed.  A  number  of 
persons  cooperated  in  the  study  both  by  criticism  and  ob- 
servation of  emotional  experiences.  The  study  would  not 
have  been  possible  without  the  kindly  cooperation  of  the 
following:  Professor  and  Mrs.  G.  E.  Freeland,  Mr.  A.  E. 
Hamilton,  Dr.  G.  E.  Jones,  Dr.  George  Bivin,  Dr.  Frank  E. 
Howard,  Dr..  W.  T.  Sangor,  Dr.  K.  K.  Robinson,  Mr.  D.  I. 
Pope,  Mrs.  R.  F.  Richardson,  Dr.  E.  O.  Finkenbinder,  Dr. 
Raymond  Bellamy.  R.  F.  R. 

University  of  Maine 

June  20,  1917  ^ 


INTRODUCTION 

Although  the  emotions  are  recognized  as  among  the  most 
important  mental  phenomena,  exerting  a  marked  influence 
on  other  mental  processes,  they  have  had  comparatively  lit- 
tle systematic  investigation.  We  have  our  casual  descrip- 
tions of  emotions  in  terms  of  feelings,  sensations  and  phy- 
siological effects.  We  have  our  theories,  accounting  for  the 
expression  of  the  emotions,  and  our  theories  of  the  constitu- 
ents of  the  emotive  consciousness.  The  functional  side  of 
emotions,  emphasizing  the  behavior  of  consciousness,  has 
been  for  the  most  part  neglected.  In  looking  over  the  liter- 
ature on  emotions,  one  is  impressed  by  its  theoretical  and 
opinionated  trend.  Much  of  it  is  based  on  casual  individual 
observations.  Attention  has  for  the  most  part  been  directed 
to  the  most  intense  emotional  experiences,  neglecting  the 
smaller  emotions,  important  as  they  are  in  the  behavior  of 
consciousness.  Then  psychology  has  concerned  itself  with 
the  exciting  period  of  the  emotion,  disregarding  the  consci- 
ousness preceding  the  emotion  and  that  after  the  emotion 
has  disappeared.  From  the  functional  aspect  of  emotions, 
some  of  the  questions  which  invite  study  are  as  follows:  i. 
the  mental  situation,  including  the  fore-period  from  which 
the  emotion  develops ;  2.  the  behavior  of  consciousness  dur- 
ing the  period  the  emotion  exists;  3.  the  manner  of  disap- 
pearance and  diminution  of  the  emotion;  4.  the  effect  in 
consciousness  after  the  emotion  has  disappeared;  5.  individ- 
ual differences  in  emotional  life. 

The  statement  of  Wundt  (21)  and  Kiilpe  (14)  concern- 
ing voluntary  action,  that  its  mere  period  of  duration  is  but 
a  small  part  of  its  psychological  significance,  may  well  be 
said  of  emotions.  Wundt  suggests  the  close  relation  be- 
tween the  emotion  and  volitional  action.  A  volitional  pro- 
cess that  passes  into  an  external  act,  he  defines  as  an  emo« 

5 


O  PSYCHOLOGY  AND  PEDAGOGY  01^  ANGER 

tion  which  closes  with  a  "pantomimetic"  movement.  Ach 
(i),  in  his  experiments  with  the  will,  distinguishes  in  each 
experiment  a  fore,  mid  and  after  period.  In  our  emotional 
experiences,  it  is  true  to  a  marked  degree  that  we  are  pre- 
disposed and  predetermined  to  a  specific  emotional  excite- 
ment by  temporary  or  permanent  dispositions  and  attitudes. 

METHODS.  The  method  in  the  present  study  has  been 
to  observe  anger  introspectively  as  it  appears  in  every-day 
life.  Ten  graduate  students  of  Clark  University  and  two 
persons  outside  of  the  University  volunteered  to  observe 
their  emotions  for  a  period  of  at  least  three  months  and 
report  to  the  writer  each  day  from  the  notes  of  their  intro- 
spections. These  persons  were  asked  to  observe  all  in- 
stances of  anger  and  fear  no  matter  how  minute.  Only 
anger  will  be  used  in  the  present  study.  They  were  asked 
to  observe  the  conscious  fore-period  before  the  emotion  be- 
gins, the  development  of  the  emotion,  the  disappearance,  the 
diminution  and  the  consciousness  after  the  emotion  has  dis- 
appeared, which  is  recognized  as  having  been  influenced  by 
the  emotion. 

Historically,  three  methods  have  been  used  in  studying 
the  emotions.  Casual  individual  introspection  is  the  earliest 
and  is  consequently  the  basis  for  most  of  the  literature. 
Bain  (2)  and  Ribot  (16)  were  among  the  first  to  employ 
this  method  extensively.  Observations  of  the  behavior  of 
normal  and  abnormal  persons  have  given  some  results.  The 
questionaire  method  used  by  Dr.  Hall  (11)  has  shown  the 
wide  range  of  objective  reactions  and  objects  of  anger. 

Both  anger  and  fear  are  deep  rooted  psychic  strata.  In- 
trospections reveal  motives  of  selfish,  unsocial  and  unlaw- 
ful character,  springing  from  a  level  lower  than  the  social 
man.  All  observers  have  been  quite  frank  in  giving  the  full 
introspections,  even  when  their  most  private  and  personal 
matters  were  concerned.  Where  illustrative  material  is 
used,  it  has  been  necessary  to  remove  the  personal  element. 


INTRODUCTION  7 

as  in  many  instances,  others  besides  the  observer  were  con- 
cerned. This  revision  has  been  the  work  of  the  writer.  The 
essential  psychological  factor  is  unchanged  and  the  words 
of  the  observers  are  used  as  nearly  as  possible.  The  twelve 
persons  will  be  called  by  the  first  twelve  letters  of  the  al- 
phabet, and  other  persons  named  in  the  introspections  will 
be  called  X.  Y.  and  Z.  Ten  of  the  observers  were  graduate 
men  students  of  psychology.  Seven  of  these  had  had  con- 
siderable experience  in  introspection  under  controlled  lab- 
oratory conditions.  Most  of  the  illustrative  data  will  be 
taken  from  the  observations  of  A.  B.  C.  D.  E.  F.  and  G.  who 
are  the  most  experienced  observers. 

No  apology  is  offered  for  this  study  because  of  the  uncon- 
trolled conditions  of  introspection.  Emotions  are  involun- 
tary processes  and  consequently  do  not  lend  themselves  to 
voluntary  control  necessary  for  laboratory  technique.  The 
emotion  springs  from  an  antecedent  complex  combined  with 
a  present  idea.  The  fact  that  anger  does  not  develop  from 
a  single  experience  but  is  a  predetermined  consciousness 
usually  cumulative  in  character,  makes  voluntary  origin  dif- 
ficult. Even  when  the  individual  is  aware  of  the  antecedent 
which  tends  to  give  rise  to  anger,  the  voluntary  combination 
with  a  present  idea  is  unsuccessful.  A  further  difficulty  in 
introspection  is  the  tendency  of  the  emotion  to  disappear  as 
a  result  of  the  act  of  introspection.  It  occurs  frequently  in 
the  data  that  a  further  development  of  the  emotion  is  entire- 
ly cut  off  by  introspection.  However,  attention  to  the  situ- 
ation giving  rise  to  anger  frequently  reinstates,  the  emotion, 
if  the  feeling  background  is  intense  enough.  It  was  neces- 
sary to  instruct  the  observers  to  allow  their  emotions  to  run 
their  usual  course  and  note  the  facts  of  behavior  at  con- 
venient times.  The  purpose  of  this  study  is  to  investigate 
the  behavior  of  consciousness  in  the  development,  expres- 
sion and  disappearance  of  anger.  The  observers  were  asked 
to  direct  their  observation  especially  to  the  behavior  side  of 


8  PSYCHOI.OGY  AND  PEDAGOGY  OF  ANGER 

consciousness.  It  is  believed,  that  regardless  of  the  neces- 
sary uncontrolled  conditions  of  introspection,  that  a  syste- 
matic observation  of  both  mild  and  intense  experiences  of 
anger  by  a  number  of  observers  over  an  extended  period  of 
time  will  add  to  a  better  comprehension  of  the  functional 
character  of  this  one  of  the  fundamental  emotions. 


MENTAL  SITUATION  STIMULATING 
ANGER 


CHAPTKR  ONE 

MENTAL  SITUATION  STIMULATING  ANGER 
Professor  Titchener  (19)  states  concerning  emotions  in 
general  three  essential  factors  for  their  formation.  First,  a 
series  of  ideas  shall  be  interrupted  by  a  vivid  feeling;  sec- 
ond, the  feeling  shall  mirror  a  situation  or  incident  in  the 
outside  world;  and  third,  the  feeling  shall  be  enriched  by 
organic  sensations  created  by  the  course  of  bodily  adjust- 
ment to  the  situation.  It  has  been  well  agreed  from  casual 
introspection  that  the  stimulus  to  an  emotion  is  a  total 
mental  situation  or  predicament.  It  is  evidently  necessary 
in  the  psychology  of  the  emotions  that  each  emotion,  should 
be  studied  in  connection  with  its  predetermining  mental  sit- 
uation giving  rise  to  it.  Anger  because  of  its  slowness  to 
develop,  lends  itself  more  readily  to  a  study  of  the  situa- 
tion from  which  it  arises,  than  some  other  emotions. 

It  is  well  known  that  there  is  little  constancy  in  the  out- 
side situation,  associated  with  the  emotion  of  anger.  What 
one  will  take  as  an  insult,  another  will  regard  as  a  joke. 
With  the  same  individual,  what  will  at  one  time  excite 
anger,  will  at  another  be  scarcely  noticed.  We  commonly 
say,  referring  to  some  incident,  "There  was  nothing  for  him 
to  be  angry  about,"  and  the  statement  may  be  correct  if  the 
outside  situation  is  viewed  as  the  stimulus  to  the  emotion. 
With  the  insane  and  hysterical,  an  observer  is  often  baffled 
by  the  apparently  harmless  idea  that  will  excite  anger.  The 
fact  is,  the  situation  stimulating  anger  is  a  psychic  one.  We 
fail  in  viewing  our  emotional  life  in  the  same  manner  as  we 
do  in  observing  our  sensations.  Whatever  the  outside  condi- 
tions, it  is  the  psychic  situation  as  only  a  partial  reflection  of 
outside  conditions,  that  is  of  primary  importance.  A  few 
instances  of  the  current  views  of  the  situation  exciting 
anger  may  be  given.  What  may  be  called  a  genetic  view  is 
illustrated  in  McDougall's  (5)  statement,  "The    condition 

II 


12  PSYCHOLOGY  AND  PEDAGOGY  OF  ANGER 

of  its  (anger)  excitement  is  rather  any  opposition  to  the 
free  exercise  of  any  impulse,  any  obstruction  to  the  activity 
to  which  the  creature  is  impelled  by  any  one  of  the  other 
instincts."  Dewey  (6)  in  his  conception  of  instincts  has 
pointed  out  that  jwe  are  not  angry  when  we  are  fighting  suc- 
cessfully. Only  when  the  pugnacious  instinct  is  impeded 
does  emotion  ariseT]  An  introspective  view  may  be  taken 
from  Bain  (2),  ''When  we  have  suffered  harm  at  the  hands 
of  another,  it  leaves  a  sting  in  the  violation  of  the  sanctity 
of  our  feelings.  This  pre-supposes  a  sentiment  of  self  re- 
garding pride,  the  presence  of  which  gives  rise  to  the  best 
developed  form  of  anger."  David  Irons  (12),  who  did  some 
keen  work  in  the  analysis  of  the  emotions,  does  not  qualify 
his  statement  that  anger  appears  only  when  w^  feel  that  we 
have  been  injured. 

From  the  pathological  side.  Fere  (7)  and  Magnan  (11) 
have  described  slow  accumulation  of  anger  in  paranoiacs, 
which  seems  to  reenforce  the  casual  introspective  view 
stated  above.  These  insane  persons  first  believe  they  are 
persecuted.  They  suspect  all  about  them.  Even  their  very 
best  friends  are  trying  to  injure  their  business  or  reputa- 
tion. Gradually  reactionary  impulses  begin  and  they  them- 
selves become  the  persecutors  and  concern  themselves  with 
the  business  of  revenge.  They  find  gratification  in  every 
sort  of  angry  outburst, — insult,  abuse,  threat,  murderous 
attack,  irony,  witticism,  etc. 

The  same  view  has  been  advanced  by  Steinmetz  (18)  in 
the  observation  of  the  behavior  of  primitive  people.  He 
holds  that  revenge  is  essentially  rooted  in  the  feeHng  of 
power  and  superiority.  It  arises  upon  the  experience  of 
injury  and  its  aim  is  to  enhance  self-feeling,  which  has  been 
lowered  by  the  injury  suffered. 

The  next  few  pages  will  be  devoted  to  an  examination  of 
the  mental  situations  from  which  anger  develops  as  found  in 
the  results  of  the  introspections.     About  six  hundred  intro- 


ME:nTAI.  situation  STIMUI.ATING  ANGKR  I3 

spections  from  the  various  observers  have  been  used  for  this 
study. 

Peelings  of  Irritation.  One  of  the  characteristic  mental 
situations  from  which  anger  arises  is  that  connected  with 
feeHngs  of  irritatipn.  These  feeHngs  are  described  as  un- 
pleasant nervous  tension  with  a  tendency  to  motor  activity. 
Awareness  of  the  feeling  may  be  present  while  attention  is 
directed  elsewhere.  It  may  or  may  not  be  referred  to  any 
particular  incident.  C. — ''It  is  a  sort  of  diffused  unpleasant 
consciousness  that  things  in  general  are  going  wrong." 

Irritation  in  connection  with  pain  or  illness  is  a  condition 
from  which  anger  may  develop.  From  this  a  trivial  inci- 
dent may  give  rise  to  anger.  A  note  from  E's  records 
says,  "I  had  a  severe  headache  to-day  and  felt  irritable. 
When  X.  would  try  to  sympathize  with  me,  the  irritation 
would  increase  and  I  tended  to  be  angry."  G,  who  has  rel- 
atively few  emotions  of  anger,  introspected  upon  ten  cases 
of  anger,  arising  from  a  fore-period  of  irritation  during  a 
day's  illness.  Subject  I.  states  with  reference  to  pain, 
''While  the  pain  was  on  I  felt  as  though  I  wanted  to  be 
angry  at  somebody  or  something,  X.  spoke  to  me  and  at 
once  I  was  angry."  Feelings  of  irritation  may  increase, 
gradually,  accompanying  the  increased  intensity  of  pain. 
A.  states,  "Irritableness  at  the  first  beginning  of  the  pain 
increased  to  intense  anger  at  the  moment  the  pain  was  most 
severe.  There  was  a  strong  motor  tension  in  the  hands  and 
face  muscles  with  the  impulse  to  look  about,  vaguely  aware 
that  I  was  trying  to  find  something  to  refer  the  anger  to 
A  decrease  of  the  pain  was  accompanied  by  a  de- 
crease of  the  anger  to  a  feeling  of  irritation  again." 

Feelings  of  irritation  follow  as  a  result  of  the  thwarting 
of  some  desire  or  mental  attitude  and  are  consequently  pre- 
determined by  the  attitude  of  the  moment.  From  this, 
anger  develops  for  the  most  part,  as  a  result  of  a  series  of 
stimuli,  which  have  a  cumulative  effect.     Each  thwarting 


t.^cA^<^ 


14  PSYCHOLOGY  AND  PEDAGOGY  OF  ANGER 

of  the  impulse  intensifies  the  irritation  until  anger  is  devel- 
oped. One  or  two  failures  may  stimulate  unpleasant  feel- 
ings, which  at  the  time  are  ignored ;  but  with  an  increase  of 
the  number  of  stimuli,  there  is  an  accumulative  effect  in 
which  the  awareness  of  the  previous  failures  becomes  more 
intense  than  at  the  moment  when  they  occurred.  The  fol- 
lowing from  B.'s  observations  will  illustrate,  ''I  was  writing 
a  letter  to  an  important  personage  and  was  making  special 
effort  to  write  it  neatly.  I  made  an  error  and  felt  unpleas- 
antly irritated.  Still  feeling  quite  unpleasant,  I  turned  to 
look  for  my  eraser  and  could  not  find  it.  I  looked  in  sev- 
eral places.  Each  failure  was  followed  by  a  sudden  in- 
crease in  intensity  of  unpleasant  feelings."  Finally  B.  found 
himself  using  defamatory  language  prolifically,  giving  ex- 
pression to  a  rather  well  developed  case  of  anger.  One  is 
usually  aware  in  anger  of  this  type,  that  the  emotion  is  the 
cumulative  effect  of  a  number  of  previous  stimuli.  It  ap- 
pears from  the  reports,  that  if  the  mental  predisposition  is 
intense  enough,  one  or  two  failures  may  suffice  to  excite 
anger.  In  general  the  stronger  the  predisposition,  the  less 
number  of  failures  is  required  before  anger  is  fully  devel- 
oped. 

Another  characteristic  of  the  feeling  of  irritation  is  its 
indefinite  objective  reference.  It  may  not  refer  definitely 
to  any  object  at  first.  The  tendency  is  usually  present  to 
refer  it  to  some  object  or  person,  regardless  of  the  real  cause 
of  the  feeling.  E.  states,  "I  felt  I  wanted  to  get  angry  at 
somebody  or  something  and  I  did  not  care  much  what." 
While  it  is  common  with  all  the  persons  studied,  to  be  irri- 
tated and  burst  out  angrily  at  objects,  the  tendency  to  trans- 
fer the  anger  from  objects  which  may  be  the  real  objective 
cause  to  unoffending  persons,  is  a  matter  in  which  there  is 
a  wide  individual  difference.  C.  when  irritated  by  objects, 
finds  a  partial  relief  if  he  can  lay  the  blame  on  some  person 
and  take  an  imaginary  vent  against  him.     He  states,   "I 


MENTAL  SITUATION  STIMULATING  ANGKR  1$ 

have  been  cross  and  grouchy  all  day;  *felt  out'  with  every- 
body. Several  times  the  association  of  X.  and  Y.  came  up 
with  a  little  rising  anger  and  an  attitude  that  they  were 
somehow  to  be  blamed.  I  was  aware  that  they  were  not 
to  be  blamed,  but  at  times  I  would  find  myself  ignoring  this 
and  taking  pleasure  in  criticising  them  adversely.  *'This 
tendency  to  personify  the  source  of  anger  is  illustrated  in 
another  incident  from  C.  He  lost  his  umbrella.  He  looked 
for  it  in  several  places  with  an  increased  feeling  of  irritation ; 
following  a  line  of  other  associations,  he  imagined  Z.,  a  per- 
son whom  he  dislikes,  walking  off  with  it.  He  says,  "All 
this  was  mildly  pleasant.  I  was  scarcely  aware  how  im- 
probable it  was  that  Z.  had  taken  it,  till  the  act  of  introspect- 
ing on  the  emotion.  I  really  wanted  to  believe  that  he  had 
taken  it.  "The  personal  objective  reference  to  somewhat 
suppressed  feelings  of  irritation  frequently  facilitates  the 
sudden  development  of  the  emotion.  The  tendency  to  refer 
the  anger  to  some  innocent  person,  ignoring  for  the  moment 
the  real  facts  and  forgetting  one's  sense  of  justice  for  the 
time  being,  is  a  matter  in  which  there  are  marked  individual 
differences  in  the  subjects  studied. 

It  is  a  common  characteristic  of  the  initial  stage  of  anger, 
that  although  there  is  an  awareness  that  the  emotion  is  due 
to  a  series  of  irritating  stimuli,  the  entire  situation  exciting- 
the  anger  is  ignored  and  the  anger  is  referred  to  some  per- 
son, frequently  one  recently  associated  in  time,  i  Thus  ob- 
jectified, anger  seems  to  find  a  more  ready  expression. 
Anger  is  more  successfully  developed  from  a  fore-period  of 
irritation  if  the  present  predicament  is  in  any  way  associated 
with  a  person  or  situation  against  which  there  is  already  an 
emotional  disposition  of  dislike.  A  feeling  of  pleasurable 
satisfaction  is  often  reported  to  follow  the  successful  ex- 
pression of  anger  after  feelings  of  irritation.^ 

Anger  with  a  fore-period  of  irritation  is  common  with  all 
the  subjects  studied,  but  the  manner  in  which  the  anger 


l6  PSYCHOLOGY  AND  PEDAGOGY  O^  ANGI^R 

arises  from  these  feelings  is  a  matter  of  wide  individual  dif- 
ference. They  all  get  angry  at  objects  when  they  act  as 
hindrances.  With  B.  and  C,  who  live  alone,  this  tendency 
is  more  marked.  With  all  the  persons  studied,  anger  with 
a  fore-period  of  irritation  occurs  more  frequently  against 
objects  and  situations  than  against  persons.  When  persons 
are  involved  in  anger  of  this  type,  they  are  usually  those 
with  whom  there  is  close  intimacy  or  with  servants  and  chil- 
'dren. 

The  sentiment  of  justice  may  facilitate  the  development  of 
anger  arising  from  feelings  of  irritation.  Irritable  feel- 
ings may  more  readily  develop  into  anger  if  a  situation  is 
associated  in  which  fairness  and  justice  are  violated,  al- 
though the  point  of  justice  may  be  far  removed  from  the 
actual  cause  of  the  irritation.  Under  the  influence  of  irri- 
tation, there  is  frequently  a  little  more  sensitiveness  to  in- 
justice if  the  idea  of  unfairness  can  facilitate  in  the  ob- 
jective reference  to  the  emotion.  The  following  instance 
will  illustrate.  A.  was  walking  along  the  street  at  night  in 
an  irritable  state  of  mind  in  connection  with  a  series  of  inci- 
dents just  past.  In  this  state  of  mind  he  came  to  a  place 
where  a  new  house  was  being  built  and  the  builders  had  left 
an  accumulation  of  dirt  on  the  sidewalk.  When  it  rained, 
the  water  would  collect  making  the  walk  bad.  He  had  pre- 
viously noted  that  they  had  made  enough  progress  with  the 
building  that  it  was  unnecessary  to  leave  the  dirt  on  the 
walk.  "On  this  occasion,"  he  states,  "I  now  become  quite 
indignant,  and  suddenly  found  myself  in  imagination  tele- 
phoning the  street  commissioner  in  an  angry  attitude  and 
tone  of  voice,  telling  him  about  the  dirt  and  where  the  house 
was  located,  and  ending  with  the  sentence,  *It  is  an  out- 
rage to  tax  payers.' "  But  this  did  not  fully  satisfy  his  re- 
sentment. He  imagined  himself  the  next  day  walking  up 
to  the  overseer  of  the  construction  gang  and  assuming  a 
rather  indignant  air,  telling  him  among  other  things  that 


MENTAL  SITUATION  STIMULATING  ANGER  IJ 

the  way  he  had  left  the  walk  was  an  outrage  to  the  public. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  sense  of  justice  may  be  ignored  for 
the  time  if  it  does  not  aid  expression.  In  some  extreme 
cases  the  subject  may  assume  a  make-believe  attitude  and 
trump  up  reasons  to  suit  his  own  ends  regardless  of  the 
facts.  The  tendency  is  strong  to  give  some  justifiable  ex- 
pression to  the  present  mental  predicament.  In  such  cases 
reason  serves  the  purpose  of  feeling.  All  other  mental  pro- 
cesses may  become  subservient  to  the  rising  indignation  till 
the  point  of  anger  is  reached,  but  with  the  expression  of 
anger,  the  illusion  of  fairness  usually  disappears.  The  be- 
havior that  seemed  so  commendable  while  angry  may  ex- 
cite shame  or  regret  after  the  emotion  has  been  vented. 

Negative  Self-feeling.  A  second  characteristic  mental 
situation  from  which  anger  arises,  is  that  connected  with 
negative  self- feeling;  the  self- feeling  has  been  lowered  and 
anger  follows.  In  the  observation  of  all  the  observers,  it 
appears  at  times  in  the  initial  stage  of  anger.  Whatever 
outside  situation  occasions  lowered  self-feeling  may  indi- 
rectly give  rise  to  anger.  And  just  as  there  are  feelings  of 
irritation,  which  do  not  pass  into  anger,  so  there  are  negative 
self-feelings  which  are  not  followed  by  anger.  In  the  de- 
scription of  this  feeling,  it  appears  in  marked  contrast  to  the 
anger  that  follows.  As  to  time,  it  may  last  but  a  moment 
before  anger  arises.  In  other  instances  the  feeling  of  humil- 
iation may  be  rather  prolonged  or  repeated  before  anger 
arises.  The  feeling  is  described  as  unpleasant,  as  a  lack  of 
motor  tension,  a  feeling  like  shrinking  up,  an  impulse  to 
get  away,  a  confused  inco-ordinated  state  of  mind.  A  rather 
wide  vocabulary  referring  to  self  and  the  feeling  side  of  ex- 
perience is  used  by  the  subjects  to  designate  this  feeling  in 
colloquial  language.  Examples  of  such  phrases  from  the 
observations  are  as  follows : — *1  felt  sat  on,"  "Was  humili- 
ated," "Felt  inefficient,"  "Felt  imposed  upon,"  "Felt  stepped 
on,"  "A  feehng  of  self  depreciation,"  "Felt  offended,"  "A 


l8  PSYCHOI.OGY  AND  PEDAGOGY  OF  ANG^R 

feeling  of  subjection,"  "Felt  as  if  he  thought  I  were  no 
good,"  "Felt  worried,"  "Felt  as  if  he  were  hitting  at  me," 
"Felt  that  what  he  said  reflected  on  my  ability,"  "Disap- 
pointed in  myself,"  "Felt  ashamed,"  "My  feelings  were 
wounded,"  "Felt  that  that  was  insult  added  to  injury," 
"Felt  slighted,"  "Feeling  of  abasement,"  "I  was  embarrass- 
ed," "Felt  as  if  I  had  been  caught  with  the  goods  on." 

Unlike  the  feeling  of  irritation,  negative  self-feeling  has 
a  more  definite  reference  to  the  outside  situation  and  for  the 
most  part  refers  to  persons.  It  will  be  noted  that  the  origin 
of  anger  from  the  mental  situation  of  lowered  self-feeling, 
and  that  from  a  condition  of  irritable  feelings,  comes  about 
by  quite  different  processes.  The  latter  is  reached  by  an  in- 
creased complexity  till  the  anger  point  is  suddenly  attained. 
In  the  former  case  the  anger  comes  about  as  a  rather  sudden 
reaction  from  a  state  of  consciousness  that  is  in  marked  con- 
trast to  anger.  Notes  from  the  reports  will  illustrate  this 
characteristic.  B.  had  made  some  errors  at  a  public  meeting. 
X.  in  a  speech  jokingly  called  attention  to  the  errors.  At 
first  B.  was  confused  and  felt  a  little  worried  and  embarrass- 
ed. In  a  few  moments  he  found  himself  mildly  angry  at 
X.  and  was  planning  to  retaliate.  B.  states  that  his  anger 
did  not  refer  to  the  fact  that  he  had  made  the  error,  but  to 
X.  who  had  humiliated  him  by  calling  public  attention  to  it. 
F.  went  to  get  a  check  cashed  and  was  refused.  He  states, 
"I  felt  belittled  and  became  indignant  as  I  walked  away. 
....  With  the  appearance  of  the  imagery  of  another  per- 
son getting  his  check  cashed  the  day  before,  I  became  quite 
angry."  He  adds  that  he  was  not  angry  because  of  the  fail- 
ure to  get  the  check  cashed,  but  because  of  the  discrimina- 
tion against  himself.  The  anger  referred  to  the  cashier. 
The  idea  that  he  was  acting  according  to  rules  and  not  per- 
sonally responsible,  appeared,  but  was  ignored  by  a  recall  of 
the  imagery  of  the  other  person  getting  his  check  cashed. 


MKNTAL  SITUATION  STIMULATING  ANGBR  I9 

Negative  self-feeling  appears  rather    suddenly    without 
any  definite  conscious  fore-period  of  its  own.     It  is  a  state 
of  consciousness  predetermined  by  pleasurable  feelings  of 
self  regard.     In  taking  the  report  of  C's  emotions  one  even- 
ing, there  was  found  to  be  an  unusual  number.     He  had 
been  usually  observing  from  one  to  four  emotions  each  day, 
with  occasionally  a  day  having  no  experiences  of  anger.  On 
this  particular  day  he  had  observed  and  taken  notes  on 
twelve  rather  strongly  developed  cases  of  anger.     An  in- 
quiry into  the  cause  showed  nothing  except  that  he  had  felt 
extra  well  all  day  and  had  turned  off  more  than  the  usual 
amount  of  work.     This  was  a  disturbing  situation  in  con- 
nection with  evidence  that  had  previously  been    collected 
from  G.  and  D.     These  two  persons  have  few  emotions  of 
anger  and  have  gone  over  a  week  with  no  experience  of 
anger.     On  December  4th,  D.  took  observations  on  four 
cases  of  anger.     On  inquiry  it  was  found  that  he  had  been 
ill  and  not  slept  the  night  before.     G.  on  the  two  days  that 
he  was  ill  introspected  on  ten  cases  of  anger.     An  examina- 
tion of  G's  and  D's  reports  indicate  a  fore-period  of  irrita- 
ble feelings  or  a  lack  of  immediate  conscious  fore-period. 
In  none  of  these  cases  was  there  any  indication  of  lowered  . 
self- feeling  in  the  fore-period  of  the  emotion,  while  with 
each  of  the  introspections  of  C.  on  the  day  he  felt  extra  well 
and  reported  on  the  unusual  number  of  twelve  cases,  there 
was  a  fore-period  of  negative  self- feeling.     With  A.  on  the 
days  when  he  feels  best,  there  is  an  increase  in  the  number 
of  cas^s  of  anger  with  an  initial  lowered  self-feeling.     Such    ) 
evidences  as  we  have,  indicate  that  anger  with  a  fore-period  f 
of  negative  self-feeling  occurs  most  readily  when  the  senti-    -. 
ment  of  self-regard  is  active, — on  the  days  when  the  person  / 
is  well  pleased  with  himself.     It  is  true  that  the  play  of  this 
sentiment  only  appears  in  consciousness,  when  it  has  been    j 
interfered  with  or  enhanced.     It  makes  up  an  essential  men-  / 
tal  pre-disposition  in  connection  with  the  situation  stimulat- 


20  PSYCHOLOGY  AND  PEDAGOGY  01?  ANG^R 

ing  anger.  The  following  note  from  C's  observations  will 
illustrate.  C.  met  X.  and  spoke  to  him;  X.  paid  no  atten- 
tion.    C.  states,  "For  a  moment  I  felt  humiliated I 

said  to  myself,  'He  does  not  know  my  importance.*  C.  then 
became  quite  angry  thinking  cutting  remarks  about  X.  and 
ending  the  emotion  by  finding  an  excuse  for  X's  not  seeing 
him. 

LAny  remark,  suggestion,  chance  association,  it  may  be, 
attitude  of  another  or  incident,  which  in  any  way  lowers  the 
sentiment  of  self-respect  may  stimulate  anger.  In  this  re- 
gard there  is  a  wide  individual  difference  with  the  persons 
studied  and  with  the  same  person  at  different  times.  A 
trivial  incident  may  lower  the  play  of  the  self-regarding  sen- 
timent and  consequently  give  rise  to  anger,  while  at  other 
times  a  direct  thrust  at  one's  honor  may  be  ignored.  The 
personality  of  the  offender,  his  social  and  intellectual  stand- 
ing, his  general  demeanor  and  attitude,  play  an  important 
part  in  the  entire  emotional  situation,  but  at  times  personality 
is  ignored  and  a  "chip  is  carried  on  the  shoulder"  for  the 
chance  passer-by. 

It  appears  in  the  results  that  the  anger  of  the  person  who 
is  not  in  authority  against  the  one  who  is,  or  the  anger  of 
the  man  lower  down  against  the  one  higher  up,  usually  has 
a  fore-period  of  negative  self- feeling.  A  mental  disposition 
toward  the  one  in  power  in  addition  to  the  sentiment  of  self- 
regard,  is  a  predetermining  mental  situation  in  exciting  low- 
ered self-feeling  and  consequently  anger.  The  most  intense 
instances  of  anger  that  C.  D.  and  E.  experienced  were 
against  persons  in  power.  D. — "I  was  aware  they  were  in 
authority  and  were  taking  advantage  of  it  to  run  us  out.  I 
felt  a  little  humiliated  but  not  angry  as  I  left  the  room.  It 
occurred  to  me  they  were  rather  small  in  usurping  the 
place."  A  little  later  D.  became  quite  angry  and  carried 
on  in  imagination  a  rather  extensive  verbal  combat  with  the 
usurpers  in  which  he  came  out  victor.     E.  states  in  his  ob- 


MENTAL  SITUATION  STIMULATING  ANGER  21 

servation,  "If  X.  had  been  an  ordinary  man,  I  would  not 
have  given  the  occasion  a  second  thought.  But  being  very 
high  up..  .  .  I  was  incHned  to  take  less  off  of  him  than 
those  I  consider  as  not  knowing  better." 

On  the  other  hand  a  certain  mental  disposition  toward  the 
person  lower  down  in  connection  with  the  self -regarding 
sentiment  may  be  a  precondition  of  anger.  Too  great  fam- 
iliarity from  an  inferior  may  momentarily  lower  the  self- 
regarding  sentiment  to  his  level  and  in  consequence  excite 
anger ;  we  do  not  resent  a  slap  on  the  back  by  one  whom  we 
admire  or  recognize  as  our  superior,  but  we  do  from  our 
inferior.  The  same  act  from  the  one  may  heighten  our 
self-respect  while  from  the  other  it  is  lowered.  D.  reports 
a  case  of  anger  when  he  was  in  a  crowd.  A  boy  kept  pur- 
posely stepping  on  his  heels.  He  states,  "I  was  not  hurt  but 
he  acted  too  familiar  for  a  boy  under  the  circumstances.  I 
took  his  attitude  as  a  personal  matter  and  felt  a  little  humil- 
iated." A.  reporting  a  case  of  anger  stimulated  by  a  person 
whom  he  holds  in  low  esteem,  says,  "It  was  not  what  X.  did 
so  much,  but  it  was  his  familiar  confidential  attitude  before 
others  that  embarrassed  me." 

It  appears  frequently  in  the  observations  that  it  is  not  what 
is  done  or  said,  so  much  as  it  is  the  attitude  of  the  person, 
that  is  so  offensive.  A  too  positive  and  aggressive  action, 
a  too  great  display  of  wisdom,  a  too  familiar  or  condescend- 
ing demeanor,  may  be  the  essential  element  in  the  stimulus 
to  anger.  The  following  phrases  are  noted  by  the  different 
subjects  as  being  an  important  part  of  the  situation  stimu- 
lating anger  of  the  type  now  being  treated.  C. — "I  resent- 
ed his  too  dignified  air  more  than  anything  else."  G. — 
"What  angered  me  most  was  his  condescending  attitude  as 
if  he  knew  it  all."  I. — "He  acted  too  wise  and  I  was  aware 
he  was  trying  to  lord  it  over  us.  That  was  the  most  offen- 
sive part."  H. — "He  sat  and  stared  at  me  as  if  he  thought 
I  didn't  know  what  I  was  talking  about."     F. — "He  took  on 


22  PSYCHOLOGY  AND  PEDAGOGY  OP  ANGER 

a  wise  air  implying  that  he  had  already  passed  through  the 
stage  in  which  I  now  was."  E. — "It  was  not  his  statement 
so  much  as  it  was  his  rather  spiteful  attitude  that  angered 
me."  A. — "It  was  not  what  he  said.  It  was  his  haughty 
air  and  little  condescending  laugh  in  dismissing  the  matter 
that  rang  in  my  ears." 

While  in  the  presence  of  a  situation  that  lowers  self-feel- 
ing, even  though  persons  may  not  be  connected  with  the 
situation,  it  is  a  common  characteristic  to  refer  the  anger  to 
some  person.  The  bounds  of  justice  may  be,  for  the  mo- 
ment, overstepped.  The  dim  awareness  with  some,  that 
the  person  is  not  to  be  blamed,  is  ignored  for  the  time,  while 
the  tendency  is  strongest  in  consciousness  to  give  expression 
to  the  emotion.  The  individual  differences  here  are  quite 
marked.  G.  apparently  has  developed  a  habit  of  referring 
his  anger  to  a  principle,  ignoring  the  personality.  In  many 
of  his  observations,  persons  were  connected  with  a  situa- 
tion, but  were  neglected  in  his  attention  to  the  principle 
violated.  A  business  man  had  told  him  an  untruth  causing 
him  difficulty.  G.  states,  "I  was  not  angry  at  the  man.  That 
was  his  way  of  doing  business."  In  the  course  of  his  emo- 
tional experience,  his  anger  became  rather  intense,  referring 
to  the  business  ethics  practiced.  The  degree  in  which  the 
sense  of  justice  is  ignored  under  the  influence  of  anger  of 
this  type  is  also  a  matter  of  wide  individual  difference. 

In  the  observations  collected,  anger  at  one's  self  appears 
quite  frequently.  There  have  been  no  cases  found,  in  which 
anger  at  one's  self  develops  purely  from  a  fore-period  of  ir- 
ritation. The  subject  takes  the  matter  to  himself  and  feels 
a  little  humiliated  and  degraded  and  may  react  against  his 
own  personality  in  the  same  manner  that  he  would  against 
another.  Two  observers,  B.  and  G.,  quite  frequently  get 
angry  at  themselves.  A.  reports  that  this  sort  of  anger 
rarely  occurs  with  him.  G.  observes  the  following  case. 
After  he  had  been  repeatedly  humiliated  by  his  own  failure, 


MENTAL  SITUATION  STIMULATING  ANGER  23 

he  says,  **I  felt  as  if  I  were  so  inefficient.  I  said  to  myself, 
'If  I  had  a  man  working  for  me  and  he  should  do  work  in 
that  manner  I  would  discharge  him.'  ".  G.  then  continued 
to  talk  to  himself  like  another  person  in  rather  severe  con- 
demnatory language.  B.  was  reading  a  book.  He  could 
not  understand  the  author's  demonstration.  He  had  made 
several  trials  at  it.  He  states,  "I  felt  as  if  I  must  be  stupid, 
somehow;  there  was  a  slight  feeling  of  worry  and  deject- 
ion. The  idea  of  my  stupidity  was  followed  by  anger  at 
myself  for  being  so  stupid.  I  clinched  my  fists  and  threw 
my  arms  in  angry  demonstration,  feeling  as  if  T  would  like 
to  pummel  myself.  I  went  over  the  demonstration  ag^in 
with  an  attitude  of  carefulness  and  finally  concluded  that  it 
was  the  author  who  was  hazy  instead  of  myself.  I  sUmmed 
the  book  down  on  the  table  and  broke  forth  angrily,  *You, 
X.,  are  the  one  who  is  stupid,  you  don't  make  it  clear.'  This 
anger  at  the  author  was  rather  pleasant  in  quality.  I  felt 
a  sort  of  triumph  over  him." 

Another  situation  quite  common  in  the  origin  of  anger 
with  a  fore-period  of  lowered  self-feeling,  is  its  appearance 
at  times  with  greater  intensity  after  the  actual  outside  stim- 
ulus is  passed.  One  becomes  more  angry  in  recalling  after- 
ward what  was  said,  than  he  was  at  the  time  of  the  offense. 
This  belated  origin  of  anger  appears  in  the  observations  of 
all  the  subjects  studied.  It  may  be  noted  that  anger  with  a 
fore-period  of  irritation  does  not  appear  in  this  retarded 
manner.  In  the  recall  of  an  incident  in  imagination,  anger 
may  become  quite  intense;  while  it  may  be  at  the  time  of 
the  incident,  there  was  no  awareness  of  any  tendency  to 
anger.  Mild  anger  at  the  time  of  the  initial  stimulus  may 
become  intensified  in  its  recall.  In  such  cases  there  was  evi- 
dently some  element  lacking  in  the  mental  situation  stimulat- 
ing anger.  An  offensive  statement  in  the  heat  of  an  irasci- 
ble discussion  may  be  ignored.  A  rather  severe  thrust  may 
seem  proper,  but  when  recalled  in  connection  with  another 


24  PSYCHOI<OGY  AND  PEDAGOGY  OF  ANGER 

mental  situation,  the  emotional  content  may  be  entirely 
changed.  X.  in  the  course  of  an  argument  with  E.  implied, 
"You  never  will  know  as  much  about  the  subject  under  dis- 
cussion as  Y."  "At  the  time  I  noted  his  statement  and  was 
aware  that  it  was  a  thrust  at  myself,  but  I  had  no  feeling 
about  the  matter  then.  I  considered  that  I  was  producing 
the  better  argument,  and  his  personal  thrust  I  was  aware 
was  an  admission  on  his  part  that  he  knew  I  was.  To-day  I 
recalled  his  statement  and  felt  degraded  and  angry."  Then 
C.  proceeded  to  plan  a  series  of  cutting  remarks  that  he 
would  like  to  tell  X.  In  some  instances  the  presence  of  a  too 
active  aggressive  attitude  at  the  time  of  the  stimulus  seems 
to  predispose  against  a  too  easy  lowering  of  self-esteem,  and 
consequently  anger  with  a  fore-period  of  negative  self-feel- 
ing does  not  appear.  But  let  one  momentarily  lose  faith  in 
his  point  of  view  or  fail  in  words  to  express  it,  and  he  be- 
comes more  sensitive  to  the  thrusts  of  his  opponent's  argu- 
ment. 

Another  factor  partly  accounts  for  the  greater  emotional 
intensity  of  the  recalled  incident.  The  conventional  con- 
trol of  emotions  during  social  contact  may  be  relaxed  dur- 
ing the  memory  recall.  The  same  ethical  standard  is  not  re- 
quired for  one's  private  thinking  as  in  actual  contact  with 
others.  In  this  respect  there  is  rather  wide  individual 
diflPerence  with  the  subjects  studied.  Though  in  general 
with  persons  of  rather  intense  emotions,  there  is  a  marked 
difference  in  the  ethical  standard  they  practice,  when  the 
incident  is  present  to  consciousness,  and  the  standard  used 
when  the  anger  occurs  from  the  imaged  situation;  with  all 
persons  studied  at  times  during  their  most  intense  anger 
emotions,  the  imaginative  reaction  is  far  more  crude  and 
unethical,  and  consequently  the  imaged  anger  may  be  more 
intense.  A  third  factor  may  be  involved  here.  A  person- 
al thrust  may  be  partly  ignored  at  the  time  without  lowered 
dignity  because  it  is  given  with  a  smile  or  a  friendly  attitude, 


MENTAL  SITUATION  STIMULATING  ANGlfR  '25 

but  when  recalled  later,  the  friendliness  may  be  neglected 
and  consequently  anger  is  more  intense.  A  fourth  condi- 
tion that  partly  accounts  for  more  intense  anger  in  the 
imaged  situation,  is  that  the  anger  consciousness  of  this  type 
is  usually  cumulative.  With  an  entirely  novel  experience, 
a  certain  amount  of  resistance  must  be  broken  down  before 
the  emotion  develops.  The  emotion  seems  to  develop  by  a 
cumulative  process  through  a  series  of  stimuli.  One  per- 
sonal thrust  in  a  situation  in  which  there  is  involved  no 
previous  emotional  excitement,  may  be  ignored  or  the  hu- 
miliation may  be  borne  at  the  time  with  no  anger  reactions ; 
but  when  it  is  repeated  one  or  more  times  under  similiar  cir- 
cumstances, there  is  present  a  characteristic  mental  situa- 
tion for  the  development  of  anger.  The  repeated  occurr- 
ence of  the  incident  in  the  imagination  intensifies  the  feel- 
ings till  anger  becomes  fully  developed.  E.'s  observations 
will  illustrate.  "During  the  argument  with  X.,  I  was  in 
splendid  humor,  enjoying  myself  to  the  fullest  and  naturally 
supposed  everybody  was."  Referring  to  a  statement  made 
by  X.  during  the  argument,  E.  states,  "The  glow  of  the 
conflict  had  not  entirely  departed  when  I  began  to  see  his 
statement  in  an  entirely  new  light  as  reflecting  on  myself, 
then  I  felt  somewhat  distressed  and  overcome  to  a  slight  de- 
gree, by  a  feeling  of  abasement  but  no  resentment  against  X. 
The  next  day  at  ten  o'clock  I  was  recalling  the  events  of 
the  argument.  There  was  still  a  feeling  of  abasement  but 
now  it  stirred  me  to  anger.  I  found  myself  going  over  it 
and  thinking  what  I  might  have  said,  and  what  I  would  say 
the  next  time." 

Anger  Without  an  Immediate  Peeling  Fore-period.  This 
study  was  begun  tentatively  with  the  view  held  by  Wundt 
(21)  that  each  emotion  of  anger  has  an  immediate  feel- 
ing fore-period.  The  study  had  not  progressed  far  till  this 
view  had  to  be  abandoned.  It  early  appeared  in  the  ob- 
servations that  anger  may  begin  rather  suddenly  with  no 


26  PSYCHOI^OGY  AND  PEDAGOGY  OF  ANGER 

initial  feeling  fore-period,  which  the  observer  is  able  to  find. 
The  subject  reports  that  he  suddenly  finds  himself  in  the 
midst  of  an  emotion  of  anger  before  he  is  scarcely  aware  of 
it,  and  is  giving  verbal  and  motor  expressions  usually  ac- 
companying such  emotions.  In  many  of  the  emotions  of 
this  type  there  is  evidence  in  the  observations  that  the  emo- 
tion refers  to  a  previous  emotional  experience.  From  the 
mental  disposition  left  over  from  the  previous  emotion,  the 
emotion  suddenly  emerges  without  passing  through  the 
cumulative  process  that  is  necessary  with  an  entirely  novel 
emotional  experience.  In  other  words  the  way  has  previ- 
ously been  broken  so  that  it  is  not  necessary  to  break  down 
the  same  amount  of  resistance.  A.  observes,  ''Sitting  in 
my  room,  I  imaged  X.  At  once  I  was  angry,  motor  ex- 
pression not  marked  at  first.  X.  was  imaged  m  a  rather 
positive  and  demonstrative  attitude  which  he  sometimes 
takes.  I  found  myself  with  quite  a  good  deal  of  motor  ac- 
tivity saying  in  voco-motor  fashion  as  if  talking  to  X. 

I  was  partly  aware  of  three  former  disagreements  with  X., 
the  imagery  of  the  circumstances  of  the  last  one  was  most 
clearly  defined.  I  imagined  X.  a  little  humbled  by  my  re- 
mark. The  emotional  experience  from  the  first  was  pleas- 
ant. I  felt  a  little  victorious  in  the  imaginary  act  of  deal- 
ing a  telling  thrust." 

With  all  persons  studied,  there  is  evidence  of  a  previously 
developed  mental  disposition  against  certain  persons  and 
against  certain  principles  which  allows  the  anger  point  to  be 
reached  in  a  short  cut  fashion.  Anger  is  easily  attained 
without  the  initial  feeling  either  of  irritation  or  lowered 
self- feeling.  Anger  that  rises  from  this  situation  is  usually 
pleasant  in  quality.  The  mental  disposition  which  is  con- 
nected with  this  sudden  origin  of  anger  may  be  present  dur- 
ing the  later  recall  of  the  emotion.  It  is  also  shown  by  the 
frequent  re-occurrence  that  the  same  stiuation  may  repeat- 
edly give  rise  to  anger.     B.  has  a  rather  strongly  developed 


MENTAt  SITUATION  STIMUI^ATING  ANG«R  VJ 

sentiment  against  ministers  who  preach  what  they  do  not  be- 
lieve; G.  against  |>ersons  who  do  their  work  carelessly,  es- 
pecially manufacturers  who  send  out  goods  of  inferior  qual- 
ity. I.  has  a  marked  sentiment  against  acts  of  cruelty  in 
the  treatment  of  animals.  D.  reacts  rather  vigorously 
against  persons  who  are  disloyal  to  friendship.  These  sen- 
timents go  back  to  early  experiences  in  the  life  of  the  indi- 
viduals. 

B.  in  talking  with  X.  directed  the  conversation  to  minis- 
ters who  preach  what  they  really  do  not  believe.  He  took 
Dr.  Y.  as  an  example.  He  had  previously  seen  Dr.  Y. 
drinking  beer  with  the  boys  and  had  resented  his  behavior. 
He  began  to  vituperate  to  X.  against  Y.,  giving  instances 
and  telling  his  opinion  rather  vigorously  about  such  men 
who  have  a  double  personality.  "Before  I  was  scarcely 
aware  of  it,  I  was  in  the  midst  of  motor  and  verbal  expres- 
sions of  righteous  indignation.  I  enjoyed  it  all  very  much. 
I  always  take  delight  in  making  myself  angry  with  minis- 
ters of  this  sort."  B.  has  reported  other  instances  of  his 
anger  against  ministers  of  this  type.  A  case  from  I.  will 
illustrate  further.  "I  had  the  same  recurring  anger  for 
three  weeks.  A  delivery  boy  who  passes  about  the  same 
time  each  day  goes  by  whipping  and  abusing  his  horse. 
Anger  arises  each  time  the  incident  occurs.  The  sight  made 
me  pleasantly  indignant.  I  have  the  image  of  an  old  Ger- 
man, living  near  my  home  as  a  child,  who  treated  his 
horse  so  cruelly.  The  idea  of  telephoning  to  the  police  oc- 
curs to  me,  but  the  boys  goes  on  and  the  idea  is  abandoned." 


BEHAVIOR  OF  CONSCIOUSNESS 


CHAPTER   TWO 

BEHAVIOR  OF  CONSCIOUSNESS 
Wundt  (21)  has  pointed  out  that  there  are  two  types  of 
reaction  to  an  emotion,  what  he  calls  outer  and  inner  voli- 
tional acts.  The  first  refers  to  the  external  bodily  expres- 
sion of  an  emotion  and  the  latter  to  the  mental  behavior. 
In  the  study  of  the  emotions,  attention  has  for  the  most  part 
been  directed  to  the  former.  Darwin's  study  of  the  emo- 
tions in  man  and  animals,  early  called  attention  to  the  finer 
physical  expressions  of  each  emotion,  explaining  them  as 
instinctive  habits  which  were  formerly  useful.  Darwin's 
study  partly  paved  the  way  for  the  James-Lange  theory, 
which  maintains  that  what  we  experience  as  an  emotion  is 
but  the  sensation  of  the  instinctive  physical  expression. 

The  aim  of  this  chapter  is  to  study  the  mental  behavior 
during  the  conscious  period  the  anger  exists.  It  is  recog- 
nized that  the  motor  and  physical  expressions  is  primary  and 
fundamental.  For  that  reason  it  has  served  so  adequately 
in  the  objective  study  of  the  emotion.  What  we  shall  at- 
tempt to  study  is  the  mental  behavior  of  persons  under  the 
influence  of  anger.  Ethics  tells  us  how  we  ought  to  act 
when  angry,  but  psychology  has  negelcted  to  find  out  how 
in  reality  consciousness  does  behave  when  the  emotional  ex- 
citement is  on.  David  Iron's  (12)  statement  is  still  apro- 
pos. He  writes,  "The  neglect  of  the  reactive  side  of  human 
consciousness  is  nowhere  more  conspicuous  than  in  the  case 
of  the  emotions." 

The  anger  consciousness  is  characterized  by  heightened 
mental  activity.  A  multiple  number  of  images,  attitudes, 
fluctuations  of  the  emotional  and  feeling  content  appear  in 
rapid  succession  till  the  emotion  disappears.  This  state- 
ment is  true  for  even  the  more  tenuous  instances  of  anger. 
In  fact  some  of  the  milder  experiences  have  the  most  marked 
changeableness    of   conscious    content.      Objectively    there 

31 


32  PSYCHOLOGY  AND  PEDAGOGY  OF  ANG«R 

may  be  little  activity,  while  simultaneously  on  the  mental 
side,  there  is  a  wealth  of  processes  which  must  be  consider- 
ed in  the  psychology  of  the  emotions. 

After  making  a  rather  minute  collection  of  the  different 
kinds  of  mental  reaction  to  anger,  as  shown  by  the  intro- 
spections, it  is  observed  that  they  fall  into  three  rather 
clear  types  of  conscious  behavior.  The  first  type  is  in  the 
general  direction  of  the  emotive  tendency  and  is  the  one 
that  most  impulsively  follows  on  the  stimulus  of  the  emo- 
tion. It  expresses  pugnacity  in  some  form.  This  type  of 
reaction  expresses  a  tendency  similar  to  the  basal  instinct 
of  the  emotion  of  anger,  such  as  thinking  cutting  remarks, 
imagining  the  offender's  humiliation,  hostile  witticism,  jok- 
ing and  sarcasm.  This  type  of  a  reaction  will  be  called 
attributive  reaction.  A  second  type  is  contrary  to  pugnac- 
ity; the  instinctive  impulse  is  reversed.  A  friendly  atti- 
tude may  be  assumed  toward  the  offender,  an  adequate  ex- 
cuse it  found  for  his  offense,  an  over  polite  attitude  may  be 
taken.  This  type  of  behavior  will  be  called  the  contrary 
reaction.  A  third  type  is  one  that  is  entirely  of  a  conscious 
attitudinal  character.  The  subject  becomes  indifferent  to 
the  whole  situation  exciting  the  emotion.  The  offense  may 
suddenly  be  apathetically  ignored  and  the  subject  behaves 
unconcerned  and  assumes  an  "I  don't  care,"  or  a  "What-is- 
the-use"  attitude.  This  will  be  called  indifferent  reaction. 
These  three  types  of  behavior  are  characteristic  of  the  re- 
active consciousness  to  anger.  The  emotion  may  contain 
one,  or  it  may  contain  all  three  of  these  types  before  it  fin- 
ally ends.  Going  over  the  results  of  the  observations  of  all 
the  subjects,  about  fourteen  hundred  sixty  eight  reactions 
are  counted  in  the  six  hundred  cases  of  anger  studied. 
Seventy  one  per  cent  of  such  reactions  are  classified  as  attri- 
butive reaction,  eighteen  percent  are  the  contrary  type,  and 
eleven  percent  are  the  indifferent. 


BEHAVIOR  OF  CONSCIOUSNESS  33 

The  initial  reaction  to  anger  is  always  of  the  attributive 
type.  Whatever  other  reactions  may  follow  in  the  course 
of  the  entire  anger  period,  the  attributive  reaction  in  some 
form  is  characteristic  of  the  early  stage  of  the  emotion.  The 
contrary  and  indifferent  types  are  secondary  in  point  of  time 
and  occur  after  the  initial  hostile  tendencies  have  been  re- 
strained. If  an  emotion  of  anger  is  made  up  entirely  of 
the  attributive  type,  which  frequently  occurs,  and  continues 
for  any  length  of  time,  it  is  always  noted  that  some  of  the 
reactions  are  more  crude  and  unsocial  and  others  are  re- 
fined, disguised  it  may  be,  covered  up,  and  when  the  emo- 
tion is  most  intense  whether  it  be  in  the  initial  stage  or  else- 
where, the  unsocial  attributive  tendencies  are  usually  found 
at  those  places. 

ATTRIBUTIVE  REACTION 
The  anger  consciousness  in  its  development,  especially  in 
its  initial  stage  is  characterized  by  restraint.  The  subject 
is  aware  of  hostile  unlawful  impulses  that  must  be  controll- 
ed. Its  initial  stage  is  usually  reported  as  unpleasant.  The 
second  characteristic  of  the  anger  consciousness  is  reaction 
of  some  sort.  What  takes  place  on  the  mental  side,  is  along 
the  line  of  least  resistance  for  the  moment.  Mental  life  is 
rather  versatile  in  providing  subjective  reaction  to  anger. 
Motor  and  visual  imagery  play  an  important  role  involving 
lessened  resistance.  A  third  characteristic  of  the  anger 
consciousness  is  what  the  Germans  call  "Verschiebung." 
The  emotive  tendency  is  inhibited.  A  substitution  follows 
for  the  tendencies  restrained.  It  may  be  purely  subjective 
or  only  partly  subjective.  But  the  subject  in  the  observa- 
tion of  his  anger  is  fully  aware  that  he  would  behave  in 
some  more  drastic  fashion  if  the  restraint  were  off. 

Substitution  of  Visual  and  Motor  Imagery.  With  the 
subjects  studied  there  occurred  no  real  pugnacious  attack 
in  which  blows  were  struck  except  with  those  persons  who 


34  PSYCHOI.OGY  AND  PEDAGOGY  OF  ANGER 

have  the  correction  of  children;  there  are  also  but  few  real 
quarrels  reported.  But  the  versatility  of  consciousness  in 
substituting  and  providing  merely  mental  reaction  for  other 
hostile  tendencies  that  the  subject  really  wished  fulfilled  is 
quite  striking.  Visual  and  motor  imagery  may  take  the 
place  of  tendencies  which  are  inhibited  and  allow  a  suc- 
cessful expression.  An  observation  from  A.  will  illustrate. 
"I  found  myself  saying  cutting  remarks  as  if  speaking  direct- 
ly to  X.,  and  I  planned  a  course  of  behavior  toward  him  that 
I  considered  would  humiliate  him.  I  finally  ended  by  im- 
agining myself  kicking  him  down  the  street,  telling  him  I 
wanted  no  more  to  do  with  him.  The  imagery  of  this  act 
was  pleasant.  I  felt  victorious.  X.  was  imagined  as  peni- 
tent." The  imagery  of  the  pugnacious  attack  in  some  form 
is  a  quite  common  characteristic  of  the  mental  reaction  to 
anger.  It  occurs  after  a  period  of  restraint  when  there 
seems  nothing  else  to  be  done;  imagination  and  fancy  ap- 
pear at  such  a  crisis  and  assume  the  role  of  a  surrogate  for 
hostile  tendencies,  which  the  subject  has  controlled.  The 
awareness  of  the  direct  end  of  the  initial  tendency  of  the 
anger  may  be  present  in  consciousness  or  the  aim  may  be 
indefinite.  Subject  I.  observes,  "I  felt  as  if  I  wanted  to  say 
something  or  do  something  at  once  that  would  get  even 
with  X.  The  thing  to  do  was  vague,  but  the  impulse  to  do 
something  in  a  hostile  manner  was  strong."  The  aim  of 
behavior  may  be  rather  difinitely  formed  in  the  early  stage 
of  the  anger  consciousness  as  soon  as  the  irasible  feelings 
are  definitely  referred  to  some  object.  An  illustration  from 
A.  follows: — "The  impulse  to  take  X.  (a  child)  and  shake 
him,  was  strong  on  the  first  stimulus  of  the  emotion ;  sup- 
pressing this  I  spoke  crossly  to  him,  at  the  same  time  there 
appeared  motor  imagery  of  my  holding  him  with  both 
hands  and  shaking  him."  Another  instance  from  the  same 
subject:  "I  had  an  impulse  to  punish  X.,  restraint  was  im- 
mediately followed  by  a  motor  and  visual  imagery  of  the 


BEHAVIOR  OF  CONSCIOUSNESS  35 

act  of  punishment."  Subject  C.  observes,  "The  first  im- 
pulse was  to  kick  X.,  the  restraint  was  accompanied  by  mot- 
or images  of  kicking  him,  followed  by  the  image  of  his  be- 
ing hurt  in  the  face."  E.  states  "I  felt  as  if  I  would  like 
to  shake  him  and  imagined  myself  doing  it."  G.  developed 
a  case  of  anger  from  a  series  of  irritating  stimuli.  Describ- 
ing his  anger,  he  says,  "I  felt  like  I  wanted  to  bite  or  hit 
something."  B.  reports  a  case  when  he  had  been  humiliat- 
ed by  some  boys  along  the  street.  The  tendency  to  anger 
at  the  time  was  controlled,  but  as  he  passed  on,  the  emotion 
arose  with  greater  intensity.  "I  imagined  myself  beating 
one  of  the  boys,  I  gave  him  several  good  punches ;  he  had 
no  show  at  all.  I  came  out  victor  and  was  enjoying  it  all." 
One  of  the  many  sorts  of  mental  reactions  that  H.  reports  to 
a  case  of  anger  that  extended  over  three  quarters  of  an  hour, 
is,  "I  imagined  myself  charging  at  him  and  his  looking 
frightened  at  my  behavior." 

Substitution  of  Irascible  Play.  The  imagined  fight  and 
victory  take  the  place  of  tendencies  which  would  have  a 
more  objective  expression.  Another  sort  of  substitution  of 
the  initially  restrained  emotional  reaction,  is  first  to  lessen 
the  restraint  by  inhibition  and  react  in  some  less  crude  man- 
ner in  a  slightly  disguised  form,  which  gives  a  feeling  of 
satisfaction  in  inner  victory  and  at  the  same  time  lacks  the 
objective  hostility.  A.  felt  humiliated  because  of  X.'s  re- 
mark in  the  presence  of  others.  "Resenting  his  familiarity, 
I  went  out  of  my  way  to  pass  him ;  I  grabbed  his  arm  and 
gave  it  a  tremendous  grip,  at  the  same  time  I  smiled  play- 
fully. I  really  aimed  to  hurt  him  and  was  fully  aware  that 
I  wished  to  hurt  him  worse  than  I  did.  What  I  did  was 
merely  a  substitution,  but  now  that  the  act  was  over,  I  felt 
fully  satisfied  and  pleased  with  what  I  had  done."  The 
playful  attack  is  a  rather  common  sort  of  reaction  to  resent- 
ment with  observers  A.,  C.  and  D.  D.  observes,  "I  was 
angry  at  X.  and  was  trying  to  control  myself;  suddenly  I 


36  PSYCHOI.OGY  AND  PEDAGOGY  OF  ANGER 

grabbed  him  and  punched  him  several  times  in  the  ribs,  at 
the  same  time  I  smiled.  I  did  not  want  him  or  the  others 
to  know  I  was  angry.  I  enjoyed  pummelling  him,  as  I  felt 
I  had  demonstrated  to  him  that  I  could  handle  him."  In 
such  observations  the  subject's  awareness  that  what  he  does 
in  a  playful  fashion  is  but  a  substitution  of  what  he  would 
like  to  do  in  another  manner,  is  significant.  This  sort  of 
awareness  seems  to  be  ignored  in  the  every-day  experience 
of  our  emotional  life.  Attention  is  directed  to  the  reaction ; 
we  involuntarily  seek  a  place  of  lessened  resistance,  but  the 
act  of  introspection  allows  the  subject  to  be  more  clearly 
aware  of  the  inhibited  reaction  and  the  substituted  expres- 
sion which  follows. 

Substitution  of  Imaginary  Invective  and  Cutting  Re- 
marks. The  vocal  expression  of  anger  is  one  of  primary 
significance.  Swearing,  grumbling,  invective,  quarrelling, 
inter jectional  obloquy,  etc.,  are  very  common  signs  of 
anger.  The  results  would  very  strongly  suggest  that  anger 
rarely,  if  ever,  occurs  without  its  vocal  expression  in  some 
manner,  if  not  by  direct  vocalization  either  by  inner  speech 
or  voco-motor  imagery.  Introspection  of  slight  emotions 
or  anger  lasting  momentarily,  show  as  their  most  marked 
sensation,  one  of  tightening  of  the  throat  muscles.  Defam- 
atory language  or  mild  swearing  is  common  with  all  the 
subjects  studied  while  in  the  privacy  of  their  own  rooms 
when  the  restraint  is  off.  The  expression  of  the  vocal  cords 
is  one  of  the  most  successful  vents.  B.  was  instructed  to 
abandon  himself  to  vigorous  invective  and  inter  jectional 
obloquy  when  the  emotion  first  began  and  note  the  result. 
He  followed  these  instructions  on  three  occasions  when  the 
emotion  from  the  beginning  was  unpleasant,  developing 
from  a  fore-period  of  irritation.  With  this  sort  of  volun- 
tary vigorous  vocal  expression,  the  anger  soon  passed  into 
rather  pleasurable  excitement. 


BEHAVIOR  OF  CONSCIOUSNESS  37 

The  reaction  to  anger  in  its  initial  stage  may  be  a  vocal 
tendency  to  express  one's  anger,  referring  the  emotion  di- 
rectly to  some  person  or  to  an  object.  When  the  restraint 
is  on,  either  from  motives  of  decency  or  the  absence  of  the 
offender,  the  thinking  of  cutting  remarks  may  be  substituted 
for  the  actual  verbal  attack.  The  subject  is  aware  that 
what  he  says  to  himself  he  would  like  to  say  to  the  offender. 
Methods  of  procedure  are  elaborately  planned  for  a  future 
verbal  attack,  just  what  he  expects  to  say  and  wants  to  say, 
how  he  will  say  it,  the  inflection  of  the  voice,  the  emphasis 
of  words  and  dramatic  attitude.  He  may  imagine  the  ef- 
fect of  the  attack  on  his  opponent,  the  latter  may  talk  back. 
The  imagined  verbal  combat  is  usually  a  one-sided  affair  and 
ends  in  victory  for  the  subject.  Drastic  remarks  and  the 
most  cutting  sarcasms  are  planned  at  times  by  the  subjects 
studied.  However  there  are  wide  individual  differences 
which  cannot  be  referred  entirely  to  the  difference  in  intens- 
ity of  the  emotional  life.  Habit  apparently  plays  an  im- 
portant role.  D.  felt  that  he  had  been  imposed  upon  by  X. 
and  Y.  After  the  humiliating  incident  had  passed,  D.  sud- 
denly found  himself  in  the  midst  of  an  anger  reaction.  "I 
found  myself  having  a  verbal  combat  with  them.  I  imag- 
ined I  was  telling  X.,  *I  should  think  it  costs  but  little  to  act 
like  a  gentleman,  but  I  presume  this  is  an  illustration  of  your 
piggishness.'  Then  I  imagined  Y.  beginning  to  talk.  Just 
what  he  was  saying  was  not  clear,  but  I  was  aware  that  he 
was  helping  X.     I  interrupted  by  telling  him,  'I  understand 

you  are  from and  of  course  I  can't  expect  anything 

better  of  you.'  They  began  to  talk  back  several  times,  but 
I  got  the  better  of  them  and  felt  pleased  about  it." 

The  cutting  remarks  are  at  times  crude  and  abusive.  The 
subject  may  swear  at  the  offender.  Persons  who  do  not 
swear  in  actual  life  frequently  do  in  imagination.  In  such 
imaginative  verbal  attacks  the  offender's  bad  qualities  are 
displayed  before  him,  at  other  times  the  same  subject  may 


38  PSYCHOLOGY  AND  PEDAGOGY  O^  ANGER 

resort  to  imagery,  sarcasm,  witticism  or  joking  of  a  hostile 
nature.  The  motivation  seems  to  be  to  imagine  remarks 
that  would  humiliate  the  offender.  The  visual  imagery  of 
the  astonished  humble  opponent  is  usual  in  these  imaginary 
attacks.  Crude  and  abusive  remarks  may  at  times  seem  en- 
tirely appropriate;  at  others,  sarcasm  and  irascible  joking 
seem  more  adequate.  Sarcasm  usually  develops  rather 
slowly  with  a  period  of  restraint  preceding  it,  unless  it  is 
ready  made  for  the  occasion.  When  the  fitting  sarcastic 
remark  is  found,  it  is  usually  accompanied  by  pleasantness 
in  some  degree.  F.  observes,  "I  could  get  no  imaginative 
remark  that  would  suit  me  at  first,  but  after  the  emotion  ap- 
peared several  titnes  in  succession  I  suddenly  discovered 
one  and  found  myself  saying  it  over  and  over  again.  It 
rather  pleased  me,  I  practiced  it  to  get  the  right  inflection 
and  emphasis  that  I  desired." 

The  imaginative  cutting  remark  may  be  in  the  second 
person  as  if  addressed  directly  to  the  offender,  especially 
when  the  emotion  is  intense.  It  may  be  in  the  third  per- 
son about  the  offender,  his  unfavorable  qualities  are  re- 
called with  no  plan  or  intention  of  repeating  his  remarks  to 
him.  The  contemplation  of  his  unworthiness  is  accompan- 
ied by  an  agreeable  feeling.  B.  became  righteously  indig- 
nant at  X.  because  of  an  incident  of  ungentlemanly  con- 
duct toward  a  friend.  He  observes,  "A  moment  later  (that 
is  after  the  first  instance  of  anger)  I  imagined  myself  in  my 
alcove  in  the  Library,  and  imagined  some  other  person,  I 
did  not  know,  who  came  in  and  said  to  me,  *What  do  you 
think  of  X?'  I  replied  with  a  good  deal  of  pleasurable  in- 
dignation, 'I  think  he  is  a  damned  ass.'  Three-quarters  of 
an  hour  later  as  I  was  walking  along  the  street,  the  emo- 
tion arose  again,  and  I  imagined  some  one  asking  the  same 
question,  I  replied  the  same  as  before  with  a  like  feeling  of 
pleasure.  I  really  wanted  some  one  to  ask  me  what  I 
thought  of  X.     The  subject  may  be  aware  that  what  he  says 


BEHAVIOR  OF  CONSCIOUSNESS  39 

to  and  about  the  opponent  is  a  little  unfair,  but  at  the  time 
that  the  emotion  is  progressing,  he  ignores  it  and  wants  to 
beHeve  ill  of  the  offender. 

The  results  of  this  study  abundantly  show  that  a  make- 
believe  attitude  plays  an  important  role  in  the  anger  con- 
sciousness, in  both  the  development  of  the  anger  and  the 
reactive  consciousness.  It  is  believed  momentarily,  when 
the  anger  is  most  intense,  that  the  offender  is  really  a  bad 
man.  Pausing  for  introspection  in  the  midst  of  such  emo- 
tional reaction,  it  is  frequently  reported,  "I  knew  very  well 
I  would  say  nothing  of  the  sort  and  that  X.  was  not  so  bad 
as  I  believed  him."  While  the  emotion  is  most  intense,  ill 
reports  about  the  offender  which  were  previously  ignored 
are  now  believed  and  assumed  as  true,  and  satisfaction  is 
derived  by  degrading  the  best  qualities  of  the  offender,  by 
believing  stories  of  ill  repute,  by  suspecting  or  imagining 
evil  of  him.  The  degree  in  which  this  tendency  is  present, 
depends  partly  on  the  intensity  of  the  emotion,  and  evident- 
ly in  part  on  the  individual  habits  of  reaction  to  anger.  The 
chronic  inrascible  gossiper  is  evidently  a  characteristic  type 
of  person  who  has  specialized  in  this  mode  of  reaction  to 
anger. 

Substitutions  by  Witticism  and  Irony.  Witticism,  sar- 
casm, irony,  teasing  and  joking  make  up  a  large  class  of 
vocal  and  imaginal  reactions  which  may  take  the  place  of 
the  initially  restrained  emotional  tendency.  The  crude  re- 
marks, transformed  into  wit  or  fitting  sarcasm,  overcome 
the  consciousness  restraint  that  was  initially  present  in  the 
emotion  and  lessen  resistance.  It  is  accompanied  by  a  pleas- 
ant feeling  and  may  be  keenly  delightful.  A  thrust  in  a 
half  serious  tone  accompanied  by  a  smile,  the  jest  and  hos- 
tile joke  follow  a  state  of  mind  characterized  by  restraint. 
In  the  observations  of  the  subjects  studied  there  is  evidence 
supporting  Freud's  (8)  theory  of  wit.  What  he  calls  "ten- 
dency wit" ;  that  is,  wit  with  a  difinite  aim  has  two  divisions. 


40  PSYCHOLOGY  AND  PEDAGOGY  OP  ANGlSR 

the  hostile  joke  and  the  obscene  joke.  The  first  is  a  reac- 
tion to  irascible  anger  and  the  latter  to  the  sexual  emotions. 
The  introspection  of  the  reactive  stage  of  anger  conscious- 
ness shows  the  Freudian  mechanism  for  "tendency  wit." 
The  following  case  will  illustrate  a  crude  kind  of  wit.  H. 
whose  husband  had  stayed  out  late  at  night  became  angry 
following  a  period  of  worry.  Fluctuating  intensities  of 
anger  and  periods  of  worry  lasted  over  an  hour.  After  a 
number  of  reactions  such  as  planning  verbal  attacks ;  recall- 
ing his  thoughtless  behavior  at  other  times ;  crying,  assum- 
ing an  attitude  of  self-pity ;  devising  some  means  of  making 
him  sorry ;  at  times  trying  to  assume  the  attitude  that  it  was 
no  use  to  be  angry ;  taking  observations  of  the  emotion  at  a 
number  of  places,  motivated  by  a  wish  that  her  husband 
would  see  the  results  and  feel  sorry;  imagining  herself  go- 
ing to  him  and  talking  rather  abusively.  Finally  she 
found  a  remark  that  gave  the  keenest  pleasure  of  all.  **I 
imagined  myself  saying,  "Petty  dear,  you  have  been  out 
pretty  late  tonight.'  "  This  was  a  condensed  veiled  state- 
ment expressing  about  all  she  would  like  to  say.  "Petty"  is 
a  character  portrayed  in  a  current  illustrated  newspaper 
as  being  mean  to  his  wife  and  flaring  up  angrily  at  every  lit- 
tle incident.  The  character  of  "Petty"  was  fully  under- 
stood by  her  husband.  The  crude  hostile  reaction  was  fol- 
lowed by  a  rather  condensed  acute  remark;  it  was  reported 
as  pleasant,  "because  it  seemed  so  fitting." 

C.  in  a  discussion  with  X.  became  angry  and  gives  the  fol- 
lowing observation,  "I  noted  I  was  getting  angry  and  want- 
ed to  say  something  hostile,  but  instead  I  turned  away  sud- 
denly and  laughed,  saying  in  a  joking,  half-serious  manner, 
*Oh  you  old  bottle  head,  you  don't  know  anything.'  Al- 
though I  laughed,  I  really  meant  it.  That  gave  complete 
satisfaction.  He  laughed  too."  Let  us  illustrate  further. 
A.,  with  four  others,  was  walking  along  the  street,  coming 
from  a  clinic  at  the  hospital,  where  a  case  of  flight  of  ideas 


BEHAVIOR  OF  CONSCIOUSNESS  4I 

had  just  been  observed.  X.,  one  of  the  party,  was  talking 
in  a  manner  that  seemed  to  A.  a  little  superfluous.  He  re- 
sented his  attitude,  and  turning  he  said  to  X.  in  a  joking 
manner,  "What  did  you  say?  The  malady  must  be  catch- 
ing,'* (referring  to  the  case  observed).  X.  retorted,  "I 
never  have  any  fixed  ideas."  A.  replied,  "No,  they  do  fly 
away  pretty  fast."  A.  observed,  "I  felt  pleased  and  victor- 
ious with  my  remark,  my  resentment  was  entirely  gone  and 
I  entered  into  conversation  with  X.  in  a  friendly  manner.'* 
Witticism  is  one  of  the  more  refined  modes  of  substitution 
for  the  more  directly  hostile  attack.  Sarcasm  is  cruder. 
Its  mechanism  depends  for  the  most  part  upon  the  inflec- 
tion and  tone  of  voice  in  speaking.  The  words  themselves 
in  sarcasm  are  innocent  enough,  but  the  mode  of  expression 
and  the  meaning  involved  are  the  sources  of  hostility.  The 
following  statement  represent  sarcastic  remarks.  A. — "I 
think  I  will  come  around  to  your  Club,"  emphasis  on  the 
word  "your."  A. — again,  "You  surely  must  be  right," 
emphasis  on  "surely."  J. — "You  are  not  the  boss,  then?" 
— emphasis  on  "not,"  with  a  little  sneer  and  an  accompany- 
ing laugh.  Sarcasm  is  a  rather  cheap  and  easy  reaction  to 
anger.  It  is  consequently  more  easily  attained  than  wit. 
The  period  of  conscious  restraint  preceding  sarcasm  is 
usually  less,  unless  the  witticism  is  already  made  for  the 
occasion.  Its  feeling  effect  is  also  not  so  pleasant  as  of  wit. 
At  times  sarcasm  may  be  combined  with  rather  crude  wit, 
but  wit  of  a  more  refined  type  will  exclude  sarcasm.  The 
following  is  a  combination  of  this  kind.  C,  having  become 
angry  at  X.  for  his  "bragging  attitude,"  says,  "I  was  con- 
scious of  the  tendency  to  say  something  hostile,  but  could 
think  of  nothing  appropriate.  In  the  course  of  his  remarks 
X.  finally  said,  *I  never  read  anything  for  an  experiment  as 
I  fear  it  might  bias  my  results.'  I  suddenly  found  a  re- 
mark that  seemed  entirely  fitting  at  the  time  and  at  once  the 
restraint  was  off.     I   said  a  little  sarcastically,   'No,   you 


42  PSYCHOLOGY  AND  PEDAGOGY  OF  ANG^R 

never  want  to  read  anything,  it  might  hurt  your  intellect/ 
As  soon  as  the  statement  was  made  I  saw  I  had  gone  too  far 
and  felt  a  little  cheap.  I  at  once  noted  that  he  did  not  take 
my  remark  seriously,  and  felt  relieved.  My  former  resent- 
ment had  entirely  disappeared." 

Substitution  by  Disguise.  There  are  many  devices  less 
refined  than  wit  which  are  commonly  resorted  to  in  slightly 
disguising  the  hostile  attack.  The  offender  may  be  attacked 
indirectly  and  impersonally.  The  following  case  will  illustrate. 
F.  became  angry  at  a  merchant  because,  when  he  went  to 
pay  for  an  article,  the  price  was  marked  more  than  he  had 
previously  agreed  to  pay.  Feeling  resentful,  he  said,  "I 
suppose  the  bill  is  all  right,  the  clerk  said  it  would  be  less, 
but  people  in  this  town  don't  know  what  they  are  talking 
about  anyway."  F.  observes,  "What  I  really  meant  was 
that  you  don't  know  what  you  are  talking  about."  To  avoid 
making  the  direct  attack,  the  indefinite  pronoun  is  substi- 
tuted at  times  for  the  definite.  The  use  of  "some  one"  or 
"somebody"  instead  of  "y^^/'  i^  talking  to  the  offender 
blunts  the  remark.  The  device  is  rather  cheap  affording 
little  pleasure  and  has  but  a  short  fore-period  of  restraint. 
It  is  carried  to  an  extreme  when  the  subject  pretends  he 
does  not  know  the  perpetrator  of  the  offense  and  in  fact 
may  assume  it  is  some  one  else,  so  that  he  may  speak  his 
mind  directly  to  the  offender.  I.  observes,  "I  was  angry, 
and  talked  to  her  about  the  affair  as  if  I  did  not  know  that 
she  did  it.  I  would'nt  have  had  her  to  know  that  I  knew 
for  anything.  I  told  her  what  I  thought  of  a  person  who 
had  acted  in  that  way  and  noted  that  she  looked  cheap.  That 
pleased  me."  Some  gossip  and  vituperate  against  their  ene- 
mies and  derive  a  moiety  of  ill-gotten  pleasure  if  a  sympa- 
thetic hearer  is  found.  One  subject  states,  "I  went  to  tell 
X.,  hoping  he  would  be  angry  too,  and  felt  just  a  little  dis- 
appointed when  he  was  not."  Hints  and  insinuations  often 
become  devices  to  avoid  a  too  hostile  direct  attack. 


BEHAVIOR  OF  C0NSCI0USNE;SS  43 

Imaginary  Bxaltation  of  Self,  Another  rather  important 
reaction  of  the  attributive  type  is  an  idealistic  one.  Imag- 
ination and  ideational  processes  are  active.  Lowered  self- 
feeling  has  been  accomplished  in  the  subject  usually  by  a 
number  of  repeated  offenses  by  some  one  that  the  subject 
really  respects.  The  offender  is  frequently  not  imagined  as 
degraded,  but  he  is  left  as  he  is,  and  the  subject  proceeds  to 
imagine, — it  may  be  to  fancy  or  day-dreams  that  he  is  the 
offender's  superior.  As  the  reaction  to  moments  of  humil- 
iation, he  may  later  plan  to  surpass  him.  An  attitude  of 
make-believe  may  be  momentarily  assumed  that  he  is  al- 
ready the  offender's  superior.  Fantastic  schemes  of  a  suc- 
cessful career  may  appear  in  which  he  imagines  some  dis- 
tant future,  in  which  he  has  gained  renown  and  the  offend- 
er is  glad  to  recall  that  he  knew  him  in  other  days.  Some- 
times he  is  imagined  as  seeking  his  friendship  or  advice,  or 
favor,  and  is  refused  with  dignity.  At  the  next  moment  he 
may  be  graciously  bestowing  favors  upon  the  offender.  Such 
imaginative  processes  are  observed  to  afford  pleasure  to  the 
subject  at  the  time  and  may  lead  to  a  new  level  of  self-con- 
fidence which  has  important  influences  on  later  behavior. 
Usually  idealistic  reactions  of  this  character  appear  in  con- 
sciousness after  more  directly  hostile  reactions  have  failed 
to  satisfy  the  subject.  A  few  cases  will  illustrate.  A.,  re- 
calling an  incident  of  the  day  before  which  humiliated  him, 
became  angry.  At  first  he  began  saying  in  voco-motor  fash- 
ion as  if  talking  directly  to  X.,  "You  are  a  conceited  fel- 
low. You  are  hard  to  get  along  with.  I  will  beat  you. 
You  are  too  nervous  to  get  very  far."  "I  imagined  myself 
treating  him  in  a  superior,  dignified  manner."  A.  then  laid 
plans  how  he  would  work,  stick  to  one  thing,  make  himself 
a  recognized  authority,  and  how  he  would  have  little  to  do 
with  X.  He  imagined  X.  coming  to  him  for  favors  when 
he  had  attained  the  success  he  had  planned,  and  himself 
taking  a  rather  indifferent  attitude  toward  his  requests.     A. 


44  PSYCHOI.OGY  AND  PEDAGCXJY  OP  ANG^R 

observes  thkt  his  entire  reverie  was  pleasant,  although  the 
anger  was  unpleasant  in  the  beginning.  C.  reports  a  case 
of  anger  at  X.  who  had  taken  a  rather  critical  attitude  to- 
ward a  problem  which  he  was  studying.  He  observes,  "At 
first  there  was  a  slight  humiliated  feeling.  This  was  dis- 
placed by  resentment.  I  imagined  myself  standing  before 
X.  and  giving  him  two  good  retorts  which  I  considered 
would  have  their  ill  effects  on  him.  At  this  point  the  theme 
changed,  'I  will  leave  you  alone  and  have  nothing  to  do  with 
you,'  I  felt  as  if  this  behavior  would  somehow  punish 
him,  and  that  pleased  me  a  little."  But  as  a  third  and  final 
reaction  C.  observes  the  following.  "I  planned  to  do  my 
work  so  well  that  X.  would  feel  sorry  for  what  he  had  said, 
I  imagined  X.  complimenting  me  after  it  was  finished." 
The  early  stage  of  the  emotion  above  was  reported  as  un- 
pleasant, the  final  ending  in  which  C.  imagines  X.  compli- 
rtienting  him  on  his  success  was  a  point  of  marked  pleas- 
ure. Subject  E.  who  had  felt  humiliated  by  X.  whom  he 
considered  had  underestimated  him,  observed  as  a  final  re- 
action, "I  will  show  him  in  the  next  ten  years,  I  am  young 
and  can  work,  and  he  will  see."  Then  followed  a  number 
of  plans  for  the  future.  One  subject  reacts  for  a  moment 
at  times  to  resentment  by  day  dreams  in  which  he  imagines 
himself  a  man  of  wealth  and  deals  out  favors  to  all  except 
his  enemy.  He  even  uses  his  wealth  and  influence  against 
him.  The  feeling  is  rather  pleasant  in  tone  till  the  moment 
he  comes  back  to  a  sense  of  reality.  The  transition  de- 
creases the  pleasantness  rather  suddenly. 

Attitudinal  Reactions.  Attitudinal  reactions  of  a  hostile 
nature  are  an  important  part  of  the  anger  consciousness. 
What  may  be  called  "resolutional  attitudes"  frequently  oc- 
cur as  one  of  the  final  mental  reactions  in  the  diminution  of 
the  emotion.  The  resolutional  attitude  to  do  something  in 
the  future  at  a  more  convenient  time  when  the  effects  will 
be  greater,  becomes  a  convenient  substitute  for  conscious 


BEHAVIOR  OF  CONSCIOUSNESS  45 

tendencies  that  require  present  restraint.  The  subject  defi- 
nitely settles  on  a  course  of  action  which  cannot  be  carried 
out  at  once.  The  feeling  tone  of  such  conscious  attitudes 
is  pleasant.  It  is  not  unusual  to  have  a  settled  resolution 
and  come  to  a  definite  conclusion  in  the  initial  reactive  stage 
of  the  emotion.  Unless  the  attitude  is  ready  made  for  the 
occasion,  it  appears  as  one  of  the  final  resorts.  A  charac- 
ter isticLo£*^owness''  belongs  to  anger.  An  attitude  that 
portends  to  future  behavior  is  secondary,  appearing  after 
the  possibilities  of  present  reactions  are  exhausted.  Much 
of  the  initial  restraint  in  inhibitions  is  preparatory  to  the 
attainment  of  a  settled  conclusion;  in  some  cases  initial  re- 
action behaves  in  a  trial  and  error  fashion.  The  results  of 
a  number  of  hostile  impulses  are  imagined  and  are  followed 
to  their  end  until  finally  one  is  selected  that  seems  most  fit- 
ting. The  conclusion  reached  may  be  temporary.  Al- 
though it  may  be  abandoned  on  the  reappearance  of  the 
emotion,  there  is  a  temporary  satisfaction  in  having  attain- 
ed a  conclusive  attitude  even  momentarily.  The  following 
case  from  C.  will  illustrate.  C.  became  angry  on  being  told 
of  X.'s  behavior.  He  first  recalled  a  number  of  previous 
similar  instances;  second,  he  transferred  the  anger  momen- 
tarily to  another  person  who  told  him  of  the  offense ;  third, 
he  imagined  himself  cutting  oflF  all  business  relations  with 
X.  and  as  a  fourth  reaction  he  observes,  "I  took  on  a  pug- 
nacious attitude  and  concluded  to  fight  it  out  according  to 
the  rules  of  the  game,  and  planned  what  I  would  do  and  say 
to  make  him  come  my  way."  The  attitude  of  waiting  for 
further  developments,  biding  one's  time,  being  cautious,  is 
a  frequent  substitute  for  rising  tendencies  demanding  pres- 
ent action.  Subject  E.  observes,  "I  finally  came  to  the  con- 
clusion not  to  lie  in  wait  for  the  opportunity  to  get  back  at 
the  offender,  but  to  be  on  guard  against  a  future  attack,  but 
even  after  the  conclusion  was  formed  it  was  not  at  once  car- 
ried out  though  it  pleased  me.     I  still  found  myself  plan- 


46  PSYCHOUKJY  AND  PEDAGOGY  OF  ANGER 

ning  what  I  would  say  if  the  thing  should  be  repeated."  A. 
angry  at  X.  and  Y.,  finally  came  to  the  following  hostile  con- 
clusive attitude,  "They  had  better  be  doing  nothing  like  that, 
I  will  watch  them,  and  when  I  get  a  chance  they  will  hear 
from  me.  I  will  be  cautious  and  sure  first,  with  which  final 
conclusion  my  anger  disappeared." 

THE  CONTRARY  REACTION 

The  second  general  type  of  reaction  to  anger  is  what  we 
have  called  contrary  reaction.  The  subject  suddenly  reacts 
contrary  to  the  emotive  tendency  of  the  emotion.  He  be- 
haves contrary  to  what  he  actually  wishes  at  the  time.  Re- 
ligion and  morals  have  idealized  this  type  of  behavior  in  its 
extreme  form.  "Turn  the  other  cheek,"  "Love  your  ene- 
my," "Do  good  to  those  that  hate  you,"  are  exhortations  of 
more  than  one  religion.  As  compared  with  the  type  de- 
scribed above,  relatively  a  small  percent  of  the  mental  reac- 
tions under  the  influence  of  anger,  as  shown  by  the  observa- 
tions of  all  the  subjects  studied,  are  classed  as  the  contrary 
reactive  type,  eighteen  percent  as  compared  with  seventy 
one  percent. 

The  contrary  reaction  is  not  so  rich  in  versatile  behavior 
as  the  one  just  described,  in  fact  it  is  limited  to  a  few  set 
reactions.  The  subject  suddenly  reacts  to  a  state  of  mind 
contrary  to  anger.  It  may  take  strong  effort  to  make 
the  change  and  the  attitude  is  not  heartily  entered  into  at 
first  and  does  not  usually  occur  when  the  emotion  is  most 
intense,  but  after  it  is  partly  diminished,  consequently  it  is 
usually  delayed  till  a  later  stage  of  the  emotion.  If  it  ap- 
pears in  the  initial  stage  it  precludes  a  complete  develop- 
ment of  the  emotion.  Subject  G.  has  apparently  acquired 
the  habit  of  championing,  in  the  initial  stage  of  the  emotion, 
the  offender's  point  of  view  and  forestalling  the  develop- 
ment of  anger  against  persons.  His  anger  is  attained  most 
fully  against  objects  and  situations.     He  considers  this  due 


BEHAVIOR  OF  CONSCIOUSNESS  47 

'         •  ... 

to  his  training  in  early  childhood.  E.  has  developed  a  par- 
tial habit  of  assuming  an  attitude  of  foregiveness  toward  the 
offender.  C.  and  A.  when  in  a  quandary  and  unable  to  find 
other  adequate  means  of  expression,  suddenly  revert  to  the 
contrary  reaction.  It  becomes  a  habitual  device  toward 
close  and  intimate  friends  or  toward  persons  with  whom  it 
is  necessary  to  get  along.  After  the  anger  has  gone  so  far, 
the  subject  suddenly  assumes  a  friendly  attitude  as  if  there 
were  no  emotion. 

There  are  various  conditions  under  which  this  sort  of 
mental  reaction  to  anger  occurs.  It  is  a  frequent  device  in  a 
social  situation  when  there  is  rising  anger  and  it  becomes 
necessary  to  adopt  a  sudden  and  quick  control.  It  is  forced 
upon  the  subject  to  meet  a  sudden  crisis.  He  may  at  once 
assume  an  over-friendly  or  over-polite  behavior,  when  in 
reality  he  would  like  to  behave  in  a  hostile  manner.  A  little 
over-solicitude  for  the  offender  may  be  conspicuously  dis- 
played. A  few  cases  will  illustrate.  B.  was  met  on  the 
stairs  by  his  landlady,  who  requested  him  not  to  write  on 
his  machine  after  ten  o'clock,  also  to  put  on  his  slippers  on 
coming  home  late  before  ascending  the  stairs.  He  observes, 
"Before  she  had  finished  I  felt  uncomfortable  and  was 
vaguely  aware  of  the  inconvenience  that  these  limitations 
would  cause  me.  I  recalled  that  she  had  said  that  I  could  use 
the  typewriter  all  I  wished  when  I  took  the  room;  I  found 
myself  becoming  angry,  but  at  once  I  took  the  attitude  of 
excusing  her.  I  noted  that  she  looked  tired  while  she  was 
talking,  and  thought  perhaps  I  had  kept  her  awake.  I  then 
said  with  an  extra  pleasant  tone,  'That  is  all  right,  I  am 
very  glad  you  speak  of  it,  I  wish  you  had  told  me  before.* 
The  pleasantness  was  assumed,  I  did  not  feel  pleasant  as  I 
spoke,  I  was  still  mildly  angry.  Five  minutes  later  I  re- 
called what  she  had  said  and  began  to  get  angry  again,  but 
at  once  imaged  her  tired  appearance  and  excused  her  as  be- 
fore." A.'s  observation  illustrates  further.  A.  was  humil- 
iated and  angry  at  X.*s  statement.     "I  wanted  to  say  some- 


48  PSYCHOLOGY  AND  PEDAGOGY  OF  ANG^R 

thing  cutting,  several  hostile  remarks  appeared  which  were 
inhibited  one  after  the  other.  I  felt  extremely  confused  and 
unpleasant  but  I  suddenly  began  to  agree  with  X.  I  told 
him  in  an  over-polite  manner  he  was  quite  right  and  that  I 
was  glad  he  had  mentioned  it.  In  reality  I  did  not  agree 
with  him  nor  was  I  glad."  A.  states  that  on  leaving  the 
presence  of  X.  the  emotion  reappeared  many  times  in  the 
course  of  the  next  half  day  and  in  no  case  did  he  find  any 
excuse  for  X.'s  behavior  but  blamed  him  severely.  When 
the  contrary  reaction  is  resorted  to  as  a  device  to  gain  quick 
control,  it  is  reported  as  unpleasant.  The  emotion  reap- 
pears again  and  is  usually  followed  by  unpleasant  feelings, 
but  when  it  is  not  forced  upon  the  subject  and  is  entered 
into  spontaneously  with  zest,  as  a  means  of  finding  some 
sort  of  satisfaction  for  the  emotional  restraint,  it  is  accom- 
panied by  pleasant  feelings.  Subject  A.  sometimes  takes 
keen  delight  in  assuming  a  dignified  attitude  toward  an  of- 
fender and  treating  him  rather  friendly  as  if  he  were  far 
above  getting  angry.  He  states,  "I  always  feel  I  am  victor, 
that  I  am  master  of  the  situation,  and  it  is  pleasing  when  I 
do  this."  It  may  be  said  that  whenever  the  attributive  re- 
action is  satisfactory,  the  contrary  reaction  is  not  resorted 
to.  The  latter  type  occurs  for  the  most  part  when  the  sub- 
ject is  mentally  obstructed  and  there  seems  nothing  else  to 
be  done  but  to  ally  himself  heartily  with  the  opponent  for 
the  moment  until  the  storm  of  his  mental  stress  is  passed. 
Subject  J.  in  a  situation,  when  it  would  be  rude  to  display 
his  anger,  observes,  "Each  time  I  found  myself  becoming 
angry  at  X.'s  remarks,  I  would  take  a  negative  attitude  to- 
ward the  rising  impulse  and  laugh  quite  good  naturedly  at 
his  statement.  The  laugh  was  not  forced,  I  entered  into  it 
heartily.  Subject  C.  finds  himself  at  times  suddenly  laugh- 
ing at  the  most  commonplace  remarks  when  mildly  angry 
at  an  offence.  It  is  a  common  device  of  subject  B.  to  burst 
out  laughing  at  his  behavior  when  mildly  angry,  as  if  he 
were  merely  a  spectator  of  his  emotion  and  not  a  partaker. 


BEHAVIOR  OF  CONSCIOUSNESS  49 

of  it.  "I  recalled  the  offensive  behavior  of  X.  which  had 
happened  two  hours  before.  I  found  myself  in  an  emotion 
of  slight  anger,  followed  by  an  explosive,  'Damn  that  X.' 
There  was  present  much  motor  tension  in  arms  and  face 
muscles,  then  noting  my  angry  demonstrations  I  laughed 
outright  at  myself  and  felt  pleased.  The  anger  disappear- 
ed entirely  with  the  act.  It  is  frequently  reported  that  a 
sudden  pause  in  the  midst  of  unpleasant  anger  to  introspect, 
is  pleasant  when  attention  is  directed  to  the  behavior, 
but  when  attention  passes  to  the  situation  exciting  the 
emotion,  anger  tends  to  be  reinstated  again.  Observations 
like  the  following  are  reported:  "Pausing  to  observe  my 
emotion,  my  whole  behavior  seemed  so  ludicrous  that  I  had 
to  laugh."  The  subject  may  suddenly  assume  his  oppon- 
ent's point  of  view,  find  a  number  of  probable  excuses  for 
his  behavior  and  at  times  actually  imagine  himself  as  cham- 
pion for  his  enemy  against  himself.  He  does  this  heartily 
at  times  when  there  is  no  outside  compulsion  and  derives  a 
feeling  of  pleasure  in  the  act.  The  contrary  reaction  may 
be  hostilely  resorted  to  in  some  instances.  The  subject  is 
aware  that  his  aim  is  to  humiliate  his  opponent  by  making 
him  ashamed  and  sorry ;  but  it  is  usually  reported  that,  after 
he  has  assumed  the  over-friendly  attitude  with  its  hostile 
intent,  there  is  a  self-satisfaction  in  the  sudden  breaking  up 
of  the  unpleasant  conscious  restraint.  Subject  D.  observes, 
"I  knew  I  was  doing  the  favor  to  make  him  feel  ashamed; 
watching  him,  I  saw  he  was  not  ashamed  in  the  least  but  I 
continued  my  friendliness  and  felt  pleased  in  doing  it. 
There  was  no  regret 'when  I  saw  that  he  did  not  take  the 
matter  as  I  had  at  first  wished."  In  the  contrary  reaction, 
a  joke  or  witticism  may  be  employed,  but  it  has  an  entirely 
different  aim  from  the  joke  discussed  in  attributive  reaction. 
It  lasks  hostility.  Its  aim  is  friendliness,  the  theme  is  con- 
trary to  the  situation  giving  rise  to  anger  and  serves  to  dis- 
tract the  attention  from  the  emotion. 


50  PSYCHOI<OGY  AND  PEDAGOGY  0^  ANGER 

THE  INDIFFERENT  REACTION 
The  third  class  of  mental  reactions  to  anger  is  what  has 
been  called  the  indifferent  type.  It  is  attitudinal  in  charac- 
ter. The  subject  assumes  for  the  time  an  indifferent  atti- 
tude toward  the  situation  and  person  exciting  the  emotion. 
Eleven  percent  of  the  reactions  of  all  the  subjects  studied 
may  be  classified  under  this  type.  It  occurs  as  one  of  the 
last  resorts  when  there  is  nothing  else  to  be  done.  If  it  ap- 
pears in  the  initial  stage  of  anger,  the  emotion  does  not 
fully  develop.  It  is  not  reported  as  actually  pleasant  but 
rather  passively  relieving  for  the  time.  Subject  B.  had  re- 
ceived a  piece  of  adverse  information  in  a  letter.  He  ob- 
serves, "At  first,  I  was  angry  and  at  once  threw  the  letter 
down  on  the  table  in  an  attitude  of  not  caring  anything  about 
it.  I  felt  that  nothing  could  be  done.  I  had  really  wanted 
the  information  badly.  I  threw  up  my  hands  and  moved  my 
body  suddenly  with  a  'don't  care'  feeling."  B.  reports  that 
he  recalled  the  situation  several  times  later,  but  the  anger 
did  not  appear  again.  The  same  subject  recalling  the  of- 
fensive behavior  of  X.  and  Y.  became  angry,  and  observes, 
"I  found  myself  saying  aloud,  *Oh  confound  them,  I  don't 
care  anything  about  them,'  and  at  once  started  to  attend  to 
something  else.  My  saying  I  did  not  care,  made  me  feel  as 
if  I  did  not  care ;  in  fact  now  I  really  did  not  care."  The 
sudden  assuming  of  an  apathetic  attitude  toward  the  devel- 
oping anger  is  a  frequent  device  of  subject  B.  A.  after  a 
rather  prolonged  emotional  reaction  in  which  he  imagined 
cutting  remarks  and  planned  how  he  would  retaliate,  sud- 
denly changed  his  attitude,  saying,  "What  is  the  use  any- 
way, it  is  just  X.,  I  don't  care  anything  about  him,  I  will 
let  him  go  his  way."  C.  when  angry  at  times  reenforces  an 
assumed  attitude  of  indifference  by  saying  to  himself, 
"Here,  you  must  not  be  bothered  about  such  things,  be  a 
good  sport  and  play  the  game."  One  at  times  assumes  an 
attitude  of  accepting  the  situation  as  it  is,  and  dropping  the 
matter. 


DISAPPEARANCE  OF  ANGER 


CHAPTER  THREE 

DISAPPEARANCE  OF  ANGER 

The  anger  consciousness  is  one  of  variability  and  change. 
The  emotion  may  disappear  rather  suddenly  with  the  ap- 
pearance of  a  new  emotion  or  it  may  disappear  graduallj'. 
There  are  usually  fluctuating  nodes  of  increasing  and  dimin- 
ishing intensity  accompanying  the  changing  direction  of  at- 
tention, ideational  behavior,  and  motor  and  mental  activity 
in  general.  Attention  again  to  the  situation  exciting  anger 
tends  to  increase  its  intensity,  if  the  situation  from  which 
it  arises  remains  unchanged. 

Any  behavior,  whether  mental  or  motor,  which  changes 
the  total  mental  situation  from  which  anger  originates, 
tends  to  modify  the  emotion  itself.  This  total  mental  situa- 
tion cannot  remain  unchanged  long.  The  affective  process- 
es which  have  been  aroused  usually  serve  to  redirect  atten- 
tion again  and  again  to  the  situation  exciting  anger.  The 
aim  of  angry  behavior  may  be  said  to  be  three  fold,  refer- 
ing  to  the  total  mental  situation  from  which  the  three  main 
types  of  anger  arise ;  ( i )  to  enhance  self- feeling  which  has 
been  lowered;  (2)  to  get  rid  of  the  opposing  obstacle  to  the 
continuity  of  associative  processes;  (3)  to  recover  from 
one's  wounded  sense  of  justice. 

The  total  feeling  situation  becomes  modified  in  the  course 
of  the  disappearance  or  diminution  of  the  emotion.  Anger 
which  springs  from  a  fore-period  of  irritable  feelings  dis- 
appears by  a  different  set  of  ideas  than  from  anger  arising 
from  a  fore-period  of  negative  self-feeling. 

Pleasantness  is  an  important  condition  in  the  diminution 
of  anger.  There  are  but  few  instances  that  show  no  pleas- 
antness in  some  degree  somewhere  in  the  reactive  stage  of 
the  emotion.  The  pleasantness  ranges  from  momentary  mild 
relief  to  active  delight.  Periods  of  restraint  during  anger 
are  periods  of  unpleasantness.     Periods  of  lessened  restraint 

53 


54  PSYCHOLOGY  AND  P^AGOGY  OF  ANGER 

are  accompanied  by  relief  or  pleasantness.  Two  periods  in 
the  development  of  anger  are  most  unpleasant,  (i)  The 
entire  cumulative  development  of  anger  is  unpleasant.  It 
is  a  frequent  observation  in  the  immediate  fore-period,  "I 
wanted  to  get  angry  at  somebody  or  something,  I  felt  I 
would  feel  better  if  I  did."  (2)  Often  during  the  active 
stage  of  anger,  there  are  found  one  or  more  periods  of  un- 
pleasant inhibition  and  restraint.  This  is  often  a  stage  of 
experiment  in  imagination,  forseeing  unpleasant  results  of 
too  drastic  behavior,  inhibiting,  choosing  and  selecting  in 
the  effort  to  discover  some  reaction  which  may  successfully 
meet  the  emotional  crisis  of  the  moment.  There  are  cases 
of  anger  with  all  the  persons  studied,  which  do  not  get  be- 
yond this  inhibitive  unpleasant  stage.  Anger  may  be  al- 
most entirely  unpleasant  or  mostly  pleasant.  Some  persons 
have  a  greater  mental  versatility  than  others  in  finding  a 
successful  expression  to  anger,  consequently  they  have  rela- 
tively a  greater  proportion  of  pleasantness.  Under  the  in- 
fluence of  fatigue,  the  ability  for  successful  expression  is  les- 
sened and  there  is  a  correspondingly  increased  tendency  to 
emotive  excitation  and  decreased  emotional  control. 

When  a  fully  successful  reaction  is  not  found,  anger  dies 
hard.  It  may  become  necessary  to  attend  to  something  else 
voluntarily  for  self  protection.  Anger  disappearing  unsuc- 
cessfully tends  to  recur  again  and  again,  it  may  be.  Its  re- 
appearance frequently  allows  the  unpleasant  initial  stage  to 
be  shortened  or  dropped  entirely  leaving  a  mildly  pleasant 
experience. 

Anger  disappears  suddenly  and  pleasantly  if  the  subject 
can  gain  the  subjective  end  of  the  emotion.  Subject  J.  ob- 
serves in  the  case  of  an  anger  arising  from  a  feeling  of  irri- 
tation, "At  this  moment  (the  moment  of  successful  expres- 
sion) I  felt  pleased,  my  anger  now  disappeared  leaving  a 
pleasant  after-effect."  A  case  from  A.  will  illustrate  fur- 
ther.    A.  got  on  the  wrong  street  car.     The  conductor  re- 


DISAPPEARANCE  OF  ANGER  55 

fused  to  allow  him  to  get  off  at  his  corner  of  the  street.  He 
observes  he  was  angry,  not  because  he  was  hindered  from 
getting  off,  but  because  of  the  insulting  attitude  and  remark 
of  the  conductor,  who  said  in  a  hostile  manner,  "Why  did 
you  not  pay  attention  to  what  I  said,  this  car  does  not  stop, 
you  will  have  to  go  on."  A.  then  became  angry  and  de- 
manded in  rather  severe  language  to  have  the  car  stopped. 
At  this  point  the  conductor  changed  his  attitude  and  stopped 
with  no  further  words.  A.  observes,  "As  I  stepped  off  I 
had  a  distinct  feeling  of  pleasantness.  I  felt  I  had  been  vic- 
torious. I  was  no  longer  angry.  Sensations  were  still  pre- 
sent in  chest,  arm  and  leg  muscles  but  these  were  now  pleas- 
ant. Upon  recalling  the  incident,  I  had  not  the  least  resent- 
ment against  the  conductor.  On  the  whole,  I  now  felt  glad 
the  incident  had  occurred." 

Pleasantness  may  appear  on  the  observation  of  the  of- 
fender's failure  or  humiliation.  C.  becoming  angry  at  X., 
who  was  manipulating  some  laboratory  apparatus,  observes, 
"I  let  him  proceed  rather  hoping  he  would  spoil  his  results. 
When  I  noted  he  was  failing  and  observed  his  discomposure.. 
I  felt  pleased.  That  satisfied  my  anger  against  him  at 
once. 

The  imaginal  humiliation  and  trouble  coming  to  the  of- 
fender, also  increases  the  feeling  of  pleasantness  md  dimin- 
ishes for  the  moment  the  anger.  The  imaginative  verbal 
or  physical  attacks  usually  allow  a  subject  to  come  out  vic- 
tor. What  D.  observes  is  typical.  "I  imagined  he  was 
stunned  by  my  attack,  and  the  result  pleased  me ;  that  satis- 
fied my  anger." 

If  the  offender  acts  friendly  and  accommodating,  that  af- 
fords a  relief  to  the  offended  person  and  is  a  condition  for 
the  rapid  disappearance  of  anger.  F.  observes,  "He  be- 
haved so  friendly  that  I  thanked  him  and  felt  relieved.  My 
anger  was  now  almost  gone."  C.  became  angry  at  X.  for 
what  he  had  interpreted  as  a  hostile  attitude.     Five  minutes 


56  PSYCHOLOGY  AND  PEDAGOGY  OF  ANGER 

later  X.  sat  down  by  him.  C.  observes,  "He  acted  sociable 
and  I  felt  relieved,  my  anger  was  entirely  gone,  in  fact  I 
now  felt  quite  friendly  toward  him."  It  is  also  commonly 
reported  that  when  the  offender  becomes  submissive,  it  af- 
fords a  relief  to  the  subject  and  usually  kills  the  emotion. 
C.  observes,  "After  he  had  submitted,  my  anger  had  dis- 
appeared and  I  now  felt  a  little  repentant  at  what  I  had 
done."  The  same  subject  sometimes  observes  that  he 
imagines  the  absent  offender  at  whom  he  is  angry, 
smiling  and  acting  friendly  in  the  usual  way,  and  the  imag- 
ined friendly  attitude  is  a  relief  to  the  emotion. 

Anger  which  develops  from  a  fore-period  of  negative 
self- feeling,  disappears  when  the  subject  is  able  to  acquire 
a  positive  feeling  attitude  toward  the  offender.  It  may  be 
accomplished  subjectively.  The  subject  tends  to  lower  his 
opinion  of  his  opponent,  he  enjoys  an  idle  gossip,  it  may  be, 
at  his  expense,  recalls  ill  reports  he  had  previously  heard  but 
ignored,  and  in  fact  may  employ  a  number  of  devices  of 
imagination  and  make-believe.  He  at  times  tends  to  magni- 
fy the  offender's  unworthiness,  and  may  come  to  the  con- 
clusion that  he  is  scarcely  worth  troubling  about.  Mental 
behavior  of  this  sort  is  commonly  reported  to  enhance  self- 
feeling.  On  the  other  hand  the  subject  may  accomplish  the 
same  end  by  magnifying  his  own  personal  feelings  directly 
by  dwelling  on  his  owp  good  qualities  and  worth  in  compari- 
son with  that  of  the  offender.  Such  comparisons  are  almost 
always  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  opponent.  Subject  C,  in 
a  controversy  with  X.,  became  angry  and  walked  away 
when  the  emotion  was  still  intense.  "I  now  began  to  recall 
how  insignificant  he  is  and  how  important  I  am.  He  is  nar- 
row, pedantic  and  incapable  of  seeing  a  large  point  of  view. 
I  am  not  so  narrow.  All  was  slightly  pleasant  and  was  ac- 
companied by  a  decreased  intensity  of  my  emotion.  I  now- 
met  X.  and  joked  with  him;  my  anger  was  entirely  gone." 
The  feeling  of  superiority  kills  anger  of  the  type    which 


DISAPPEARANCE  OF  ANGER  '      57 

arises "  from  a  fore-period  of  humiliation.  It  has  already- 
been  indicated  that  when  a  positive  feeling  is  maintained  in 
receiving  an  injury,  anger  does  not  arise.  The  would-be 
offender  if  he  is  regarded  as  unworthy  or  unaccountable  for 
his  act,  does  not  usually  excite  anger.  The  same  person, 
however,  may  stimulate  anger  by  a  process  of  increased 
irritable  feelings.  Subject  A.  beginning  to  get  angry  at 
X.,  (a  person  he  holds  in  low  esteem)  observes  the  follow- 
ing association.  "Oh,  it  is  just  X.,  no  use  in  my  getting 
angry  at  a  fellow  like  that,  he  is  not  responsible  anyway, 
and  I  would  be  foolish  to  be  bothered  by  him.  I  had  start- 
ed to  ridicule  him  but  now  my  emotion  was  gone." 

A  contemplated  victory  gives  pleasure  and  diminishes 
anger  even  before  the  victory  is  attained.  The  emotion  dis- 
appears on  assuming  a  positive  determined  mental  attitude, 
it  may  pass  off  in  vehement  resolution  as  to  further  behav- 
ior. In  fact,  one  may  begin  and  finish  his  fight  through  the 
meduim  of  ideas  and  have  no  enthusiasm  left  for  the  actual 
encounter. 

With  a  third  condition  for  the  disappearance  of  anger, 
pleasantness  is  present  but  usually  in  the  form  of  mild  re- 
lief. Positive  self-feehng  is  not  so  clearly  marked  in  con- 
sciousness. The  subject  looks  at  the  offender's  point  of 
view,  finds  excuses  for  his  behavior,  elevates  his  opinion  it 
may  be  of  him.  A  new  idea  is  added  to  the  mental  situa- 
tion exciting  anger  which  entirely  alters  the  feeling  content, 
and  consequently  anger  disappears.  Subject  I,  observes, 
''When  I  finally  concluded  that  X.  meant  well,  my  anger  was 
almost  gone."  G.  resentful  at  X.  because  he  did  not  speak 
to  him  states,  "I  recalled  suddenly  that  he  is  cross-eyed  and 
probably  did  not  see  me.  I  said  to  myself,  'He  is  a  good 
fellow  and  is  friendly  toward  me  all  right.'  My  emotion 
was  now  gone."  B.  mildly  angry  at  X.  and  Y.  for  intrud- 
ing upon  him,  observes  the  following  sohloquy.  "No,  they 
have  more  right  here  than  I  have.     This  room  is  for  people 


58  PSYCHOI<OGY  AND  PEDAGOGY  OF  ANGER 

to  converse  in  rather  than  for  one  man  to  occupy  alone.  My 
anger  was  now  decreased  but  not  entirely  gone.  ''Even  a 
tentative  excuse  for  the  offender's  behavior  allays  anger 
temporarily.  The  emotion  may  last  for  several  days,  ap- 
pearing at  intervals,  and  with  a  sudden  introduction  of  a 
new  idea  providing  an  adequate  excuse  for  the  offence,  the 
condition  exciting  the  emotion  will  be  completely  changed. 

Anger  diminishes  and  disappears  more  frequently  in  the 
change  of  attention  than  by  any  other  one  condition.  A 
pause  in  the  midst  of  anger  to  attend  to  one's  mental  behav- 
ior affords  a  diminution  of  the  affective  process.  It  is  often 
reported  as  amusing  when  a  subject  suddenly  ceases  attend- 
ing to  the  situation  exciting  the  emotion  and  observes  his 
mental  behavior;  laughter  at  this  point  is  often  reported. 
Close  attention  to  the  act  of  managing  the  irritating  or 
humiliating  incident,  allows  a  rather  gradual  diminution  of 
anger.  Anger  does  not  arise  when  the  subject  is  rigidly 
attending  to  the  damage  done,  but  only  when  he  begins  to 
feel  the  damage  as  humiliating,  irrita-ting  or  as  contrary  to 
justice.  One  subject  hums  or  sings  when  angry.  A  joke 
or  witticism  will  break  the  crust  of  conscious  tension  allow- 
ing the  attention  to  be  distracted  elsewhere. 

The  subject  may  suddenly  assume  an  apathetic  attitude 
toward  the  whole  incident  and  kill  the  emotion  at  least  tem- 
porarily. The  mental  situation  from  which  anger  arises, 
is  one  contrary  to  indifference,  in  fact,  the  lack  of  indiffer- 
ence is  one  of  the  essential  characteristics  of  the  fore-condi- 
tion of  anger,  and  consequently  when  this  attitude  is  pres- 
ent, anger  is  cut  off. 

A  resolution  or  a  settled  judgment  has  a  relieving  effect. 
Whenever  the  subject  comes  to  a  definite  conclusion  wheth- 
er it  refers  to  the  emotional  situation  or  a  contemplated  mode 
of  behavior  toward  the  offender,  there  is  reported  a  sudden 
drop  in  the  intensity  of  the  emotion,  even  though  the  attitude 
is  but  a  tentative  and  temporary  one.     The  reason  for  this 


DISAPPEARANCE  0^  ANGER  59 

is  evidently  that  such  a  mental  attitude  is  contrary  to  the 
immediate  mental  situation  from  which  anger  arises.  Anger 
springs  from  the  fact  that  there  is  lacking  a  definite  mental 
attitude  as  to  what  should  be  done  during  the  reactive  stage 
of  the  emotion.  One  of  the  most  efficient  controls  is  to  have 
a  well  planned  reaction  to  meet  the  emotional  crisis  before  it 
appears ;  when  the  injury  occurs,  if  there  is  a  preparedness 
as  to  what  should  be  done,  even  though  the  response  is  but 
a  subjective  one  purely  attitudinal  in  its  nature,  anger  fails 
to  develop  to  its  intense  stage. 

SUCCESSFUL  DISAPPEARANCE 

The  success  with  which  the  emotion  of  anger  disappears 
is  a  matter  of  wide  individual  difference  with  the  persons 
studied.  With  some  the  reporting  of  the  emotion  from  the 
introspection  notes  tended  to  reinstate  the  emotion.  One 
subject  was  frequently  disturbed  by  the  reappearance  of  the 
emotion  during  the  report.  In  one  instance  he  refused  to 
report  to  the  writer  for  three  days  afterward.  He  reports 
he  could  not  recall  the  situation  without  the  reappearance  of 
the  anger  in  its  unpleasant  form.  Other  persons  could 
rarely  reinstate  an  emotion  in  any  unpleasant  form  over 
night.  At  times  the  anger  was  reinstated  in  its  pleasant 
aspect.  Sometimes  a  feeling  of  exaltation  was  displayed. 
The  subject  showed  he  enjoyed  recalling  the  emotion. 
Imagined  and  carefully  devised  schemes  of  retaliation  were 
often  rehearsed  with  pleasure.  Again  the  observation 
would  be  a  feeling  of  indifference,  as  something  past  and 
finished.  Often  the  statement  was  given,  "The  whole  thing 
seems  ludicrous  and  amusing  to  me  now." 

It  is  rather  pleasing  to  recall  the  situation  exciting  anger 
when  the  original  emotion  is  short-circuited,  as  it  were,  al- 
lowing a  pleasurable,  gossipy  vituperation  against  the  of- 
fender without  the  initially  unpleasant  stage  of  anger.  In 
fact  the  subject  may  re-experience  a  little  of  the  unpleasant 


6q  psychoi^ogy  and  pedagogy  of  ang^r 

humiliation  through  imaginative  stimulus,  if  the  pleasantly 
reactive  stage  is  successful  enough  to  compensate.  If  the 
subject  is  aware  he  has  a  sympathetic  hearer,  it  is  far  easier 
to  pass  over  the  initially  unpleasant  stage  of  the  reinstated 
anger  and  enjoy  a  hostile,  gossipy  reaction.  The  writer  in 
the  course  of  the  study  became  so  intimately  acquainted  witk 
the  private  emotional  life  of  the  subjects  studied  and  had 
been  a  sympathetic  listener  of  the  emotional  experiences  so 
long,  that  after  the  period  of  observation  had  ended,  he 
would  find  himself  the  recipient  of  emotional  confidences 
which  the  subjects  took  pleasure  in  relating  to  him.  Says 
one  on  reporting,  "1  really  was  not  interested  so  much  in 
the  scientific  side  of  this  emotion  as  I  was  to  tell  you  of  my 
resentment,  and  as  I  look  over  it  now,  I  am  really  aware 
that  I  assumed  a  scientific  interest  as  a  means  of  gaining  full 
sympathy  and  giving  me  full  freedom  to  speak  everything 
in  mind."  Another  subject  says,  "I  went  to  tell  X.  for  I 
believed  he  would  get  angry  too  and  I  hoped  that  he 
would."  The  same  situation  does  not  usually  allow  anger 
to  continue  to  reappear  in  its  unpleasant  form,  for  repeated 
appearance  tends  to  eliminate  the  active  unpleasant  stage. 
An  emotion  of  anger  which  has  been  unsuccessfully  ex- 
pressed may  continue  to  reappear  in  consciousness  again 
and  again.  Crowded  out,  it  will  suddenly  return  at  times 
by  chance  associations.  It  may  become  so  insistent  that  it 
is  an  unpleasant  distraction  from  business  affairs  and  the 
subject  must  find  some  sort  of  reaction  to  satisfy  it.  F. 
observes,  "I  could  not  do  my  work.  Just  as  I  would  get 
started,  the  idea  would  reappear  suddenly  and  I  would  find 
myself  angry,  tending  to  think  cutting  remarks  and  plan- 
ning what  I  should  do.  Each  time  I  tried  to  escape  from 
it,  it  would  come  back  again.  Finally  I  determined  delib- 
erately to  get  rid  of  it.  I  recalled  all  the  good  qualities  of 
X.,  what  favors  he  had  bestowed  upon  me  and  in  fact  felt 
quite  friendly  toward  him.     Before   I  had    finished,    the 


DISAPPEARANCE  OF  ANGER  6l 

anger  had  disappeared  and  did  not  return.  Later,  as  I  re- 
called the  situation  incidentally,  I  felt  indifferent  toward  it." 
Such  deliberate  behavior  is  unusual.  The  reaction  to  an 
emotion  is  mostly  involuntary.  In  many  instances,  when 
emotion  is  prolonged,  it  is  much  like  a  trial  and  error  pro- 
cess, one  reaction  after  another  is  tried  out  in  imagination 
until  a  rather  successful  one  is  found.  This  re-appearance 
of  an  emotion  when  it  has  been  repressed  gives  opportunity 
for  a  new  trial  and  mode  of  attack. 

There  are  two  general  conditions  under  which  anger  dis- 
appears most  successfully.  First,  if  the  mental  situation 
from  which  anger  arises  is  changed  directly  by  the  addition 
of  a  new  idea  that  gives  an  entirely  new  meaning  content 
to  the  incident  so  that  it  will  no  longer  be  hurriiliating  or  ir- 
ritating, as  when  the  subject  can  thoroughly  come  to  believe 
that  the  motives  of  the  opponent's  offense  were  not  hostile 
but  friendly,  anger  disappears  rather  successfully  with  no 
unpleasant  after  effects;  the  anger  is  cut  off  directly  at  its 
source.  To  illustrate,  C.'s  anger  at  X.  which  had  been  a 
source  of  unpleasant  disturbance  for  two  days,  completely 
disappeared  when  he  was  finally  informed  that  what  X.  did 
was  not  meant  as  personal.  The  subject  at  times  finds  him- 
self trying  to  assume  a  little  of  the  attitude  of  make-believe. 
He  really  wants  to  believe  the  offender  meant  well.  A  sec- 
ond successful  condition  for  the  removal  of  anger  is  when 
the  subject  reacts  so  that  he  feels  he  has  fully  mastered  his 
opponent.  He  has  given  full  restitution  for  the  offense  and 
feels  a  pleasureable  satisfaction  in  the  results.  Feeling  is 
an  essential  factor,  whatever  the  method  employed.  If  a 
feeling  of  complete  victorious  satisfaction  is  accomplished  in 
connection  with  the  disappearance  of  anger  it  is  usually  suc- 
cessful. The  circumstances  are  rare  in  which  the  direct  ver- 
bal or  physical  attack  would  be  fully  satisfactory.  A  sub- 
stitution in  the  form  of  hostile  wit,  teasing,  irony,  or  it  may 
be  a  favor  bestowed  with  a  hostile  intent,  may  accomplish 


62  PSYCHOI^OGY  AND  PEDAGOGY  OF  ANGER 

the  same  result  as  far  as  feelings  are  concerned  and  com- 
pletely satisfy  the  anger.  The  imagined  victory,  or  a  make- 
believe  one,  may  serve  the  same  purpose. 

The  most  unsuccessful  condition  for  the  disappearance  of 
anger  is  one  commonly  used  in  emergencies — that  of  chang- 
ing the  attention  and  avoiding  the  offensive  idea.  Intense 
anger  usually  returns  when  diminished  in  this  manner.  The 
attitude  of  indifference  and  over-politeness  usually  serves 
only  as  a  temporary  device  of  removal  for  the  purpose  of 
expeditious  control.  Mere  repression  is  not  always  most 
successful. 


CONSCIOUS  AFTER-EFFECTS 


CHAPTER  ^OUR 

CONSCIOUS  AFTER-EFFECTS 

Anger  has  an  important  influence  upon  mental  life  and 
behavior  long  after  the  emotion  itself  has  disappeared.  The 
functional  effect  of  anger  may  be  disclosed  in  a  period  after 
the  emotion  proper  has  disappeared.  Other  emotions  may 
immediately  follow  anger,  such  as  pity,  regret,  sorrow,  joy, 
shame,  remorse,  love  and  fear.  Feelings  and  tendencies  are 
left  over  which  the  subject  is  fully  aware  are  directly  related 
^  to  the  previous  emotion.  For  purposes  of  study,  the  period 
after  the  emotion  will  be  divided  into  two  parts;  first,  that 
immediately  after  the  emotion  has  disappeared,  and  second, 
the  more  or  less  remote  period  of  indefinite  time.  The  reac- 
tion while  the  emotion  is  present,  and  the  way  in  which  the 
emotion  disappears,  are  conditions  which  determine  to  a 
large  extent  what  will  consciously  appear  after  the  emotion 
has  passed  away.  With  the  aim  of  finding  out  what  mental 
factors  follow  in  the  wake  of  anger,  the  subjects  were  in- 
structed to  keep  account  of  any  sort  of  consciousness  of 
which  they  were  aware  as  referring  either  directly  or  indi- 
rectly to  the  previous  emotion  observed. 

Pity  is  frequently  associated  with  anger.  Mild  anger  may 
merge  into  pity  at  the  point  where  attention  changes  from 
the  situation  exciting  anger  to  the  effects  of  angry  behavior 
on  the  offender.  Pity  often  follows  the'imaginal  humilia- 
tion of  the  person  committing  the  offense.  It  follows  more 
readily  when  the  emotion  is  against  children,  servants,  de- 
pendents or  persons  with  whom  there  is  close  intimacy.  A 
kind  of  self-pity  is  sometimes  associated  with  anger.  With 
one  subject,  a  mildly  pleasant  self-pity  would  frequently  fol- 
low anger  at  an  injury.  At  times  there  is  found  a  curious 
mixture  of  anger  and  self-pity.  H.  observes,  "At  times  I 
would  be  angry,  then  at  other  times  I  would  find  myself  tak- 
ing a  peculiar  pleasure  in  rehearsing  my  injuries  and  feeling 

6s 


66  PSYCHOI.OGY  AND  PEDAGOGY  0^  ANG^R 

rather  pitiful  for  one  who  had  been  mistreated  like  myself." 
An  observation  from  C.  will  illustrate  the  suddenness  of  the 
transition  from  mild  anger  to  pity.  Angry  at  a  clerk  for  a 
slight  offense,  he  observes,  "As  I  turned  away  I  said  to  my- 
self, r  wish  that  fellow  would  lose  his  place,'  but  at  once  I 
felt  a  little  pity  for  him  and  said,  *No,  that  would  be  too 
bad,  he  has  a  hard  time  putting  up  with  all  these  people.'  " 
Subject  A.,  angry  at  a  child  observes,  "I  found  myself  tend- 
ing to  punish  him,  I  saw  his  face,  it  looked  innocent  and 
trusting,  that  restrained  me,  I  now  thought,  Toor  little  fel- 
low, he  does  not  know  any  better,'  and  I  felt  a  pity  for  him 
to  think  that  such  a  person  as  myself  had  the  correcting  of 
him." 

Shame  may  follow  in  the  wake  of  anger.  It  arises  rather 
suddenly  in  the  disappearing  stage  of  the  emotion  when  at- 
tention is  directed  to  the  results  of  the  angry  behavior  just 
finished.  Both  shame  and  pity,  following  anger,  are  usually 
a  condition  of  immunity  against  the  reappearance  of  the 
same  emotion.  After  shame  appears,  a  reaction  usually  fol- 
lows in  the  effort  to  compensate  in  some  fashion.  Subject 
C.  observes,  "Becoming  aware  of  my  act  and  how  it  ap- 
peared, I  now  felt  ashamed  and  humiliated  at  what  I  had 
said.  In  a  few  minutes  I  brought  it  about  to  offer  him  a 
favor  and  felt  pleased  when  it  was  accepted.  I  had  really 
l)een  trying  to  convince  him  that  I  was  not  angry,  and  now 
felt  that  I  was  doing  it."  Subject  C.  observes,  "I  noted  that 
they  saw  I  was  angry  and  at  once  I  felt  ashamed.  I  now  be- 
gan to  laugh  the  matter  off  as  if  trying  to  show  I  was  not." 
At  times  during  mild  anger  when  the  emotion  is  displayed 
too  impulsively  and  the  bounds  of  caution  have  been  over- 
stepped, exposing  one's  self  to  a  too  easy  attack  from  an  op- 
ponent, an  uncomfortable  feeling  of  chagrin  appears.  The 
anger  may  be  displayed  in  too  crude  a  fashion,  consequently 
an  advantage  is  given  to  the  opponent  which  was  not  in- 
tended.    Anxiety  that  the  opponent  may  take  the  hostile 


CONSCIOUS  AFTER-EFFECTS  6/ 

thrust  too  seriously  or  fear  of  the  consequence,  may  sud- 
denly displace  anger.  Instead  of  an  oflfending  person,  the 
same  person  now  suddenly  becomes  one  exciting  anxiety  or 
fear. 

A  fourth  affective  condition  of  the  immediate  after-period 
of  anger  is  an  active  pleasantness.  Anger  disappears  and 
joy  takes  its  place.  The  condition,  originally  exciting  anger, 
is  no  longer  able  to  reproduce  the  emotion  as  the  subject 
has  become  the  victor  and  the  offense  is  recompensed.  The 
goal  of  anger  from  its  impulsive  and  feeling  side  is  to  be 
found  in  the  pleasurable  victorious  affection  in  the  after- 
period  of  the  emotion.  Any  anger  possesses  possibilities  of 
pleasantness  in  its  after-stage.  If  an  objective  victory  can- 
not be  had,  a  subjective  one  plays  the  part  of  a  surrogate. 
The  processes  of  imagination,  make-believe  and  disguise,  as 
previously  discussed,  become  devices  directly  referring  to  the 
aim  of  pleasurable  feelings  in  the  after-period  of  anger.  The 
motivation  is  to  avoid  the  unpleasant  emotions  and  feelings 
in  the  wake  of  anger  and  acquire  the  feeling  of  victory.  The 
tendency  to  humor  and  jocular  behavior  after  anger  is  some- 
times observed.  The  subject  tends  to  recall  his  feelings  of 
success  and  relive  them,  self-confidence  and  positive  self- 
feelings  are  increased. 

The  feeling  of  friendliness  toward  the  offender  may  fol- 
low anger  which  has  been  successfully  expressed.  Spinoza 
was  right  when  he  said,  *'An  act  of  offense  may  indirectly 
give  origin  to  love."  It  is  frequently  observed  in  the  after- 
period  of  anger,  "I  felt  more  friendly  toward  him  after  my 
emotion  had  disappeared."  In  fact  an  unusual  friendliness 
with  a  desire  to  bestow  favors  was  often  observed.  We  like 
a  man  better  after  we  have  been  angry  at  him  in  a  success- 
ful manner.  The  emotional  attitude  is  entirely  changed  to- 
ward an  opponent  who  has  been  overcome,  if  he  allows  the 
victory.  It  is  the  unreasoning  person  who  never  becomes 
aware  of  his  defeat,  against  whom  hate  follows  anger. 


68  PSYCHOLOGY  AND  PEDAGOGY  OF  ANG^R 

Feelings  of  unpleasant  irritation  usually  follow  anger 
when  social  or  other  conditions  prevent  adequate  expression. 
These  feelings  seem  to  be  the  medium  by  which  the  situa- 
tion exciting  anger  is  repeatedly  recalled.  The  emotion 
which  appears  from  the  imagined  situation  usually  does  not 
leave  such  intense  unpleasant  feelings,  as  the  subject  tends 
to  attain  in  his  deliberate  moments,  to  some  degree,  an  inner 
victory  over  his  opponent,  or  to  find  an  adequate  excuse  for 
his  behavior.  Either  of  these  reactions  may  be  successful 
enough  to  exclude  irritable  feelings  in  the  after-period. 
Irritation  after  controlled  anger  is  the  medium  for  the  so- 
called  transfer  of  the  emotion  from  an  offending  to  an  un- 
offending object,  which  is  so  often  observed.  In  the  after- 
period  of  irritation,  it  is  a  rather  common  observation  of 
the  subjects,  "I  was  looking  for  something  or  somebody  at 
whom  I  could  get  angry."  "I  felt  I  wanted  to  hurt  some- 
body." In  fact  irritation  in  the  after-period  becomes  an 
essentially  affective  element  in  a  situation  from  which  may 
arise  a  new  anger  of  a  different  type.  The  first  anger  may 
have  arisen  from  a  fore-period  of  humiliation,  while  the 
latter  is  from  that  of  irritation. 

There  is  evidence  that  the  affective  state  in  the  after- 
period  of  anger  has  a  compensating  relation  to  the  emotion 
that  has  just  passed,  not  unlike  the  compensation  role  played 
between  the  anger  proper  and  the  feeling  fore-stage  from 
which  it  arises.  The  reactive  stage  of  anger  tends  to  over- 
compensate  for  the  unpleasant  feelings  of  irritation  and 
humiliation  in  the  fore-period  of  anger  by  either  increasing 
the  pleasantness  or  diminishing  unpleasantness.  If  the  re- 
action is  incomplete  and  has  not  adequately  met  the  emo- 
tional crisis  of  the  moment,  irritation  may  follow  with  a 
tendency  to  continue  further  the  emotion,  or  if  the  reaction 
has  gone  too  far,  it  is  paid  for  by  the  appearance  in  the 
after-stage  of  other  emotions  of  social  origin,  such  as  fear, 
shame,  pity,  etc.     The  feeling  of  relief  occurs  after  the  ex- 


CONSCIOUS  AI'TER-ei'^ECTS  69 

pression  has  nearly  restored  consciousness  to  about  the 
same  affective  level  as  before  the  beginning  of  the  emotion ; 
but  with  active  pleasure,  a  higher  affective  level  has  been 
attained  and  the  subject  feels  he  was  glad  to  have  been 
angry.  There  is  a  heightened  effect  in  the  affective 
state  following  anger ;  a  sort  of  over-compensation,  which  is 
a  little  out  of  proportion  to  the  behavior  apart  from  the 
anger  itself.  If  the  after-period  is  one  of  pleasantness,  the 
feeling  is  increased  far  more  because  of  what  the  subject 
has  done  during  the  emotion,  for  it  is  evident  if  the  same 
mental  processes  and  behavior  occur  without  anger,  the 
pleasantness  is  less.  Joy  is  a  good  example  of  the  intensi- 
fication of  the  emotion  in  the  after-period  of  anger  which  is 
out  of  proportion  to  the  idea  stimulating  it.  The  relation 
between  the  fore-period,  the  anger  proper,  and  the  after- 
period  is  so  intimate  in  anger  that  the  writer  has  had  it  re- 
peatedly impressed  upon  him  in  making  the  present  study, 
that  to  solve  some  of  the  important  problems  of  our  emo- 
tional life,  this  relation  must  be  taken  into  account.  The 
entire  gamut  of  the  emotional  consciousness  for  each  emo- 
tion must  be  studied  from  the  initial  feeling  stage  to  the 
termination  of  the  conscious  content  after  the  emotion  has 
disappeared.  The  emotions  do  not  appear  as  separate  ef- 
fective entities,  but  have  an  intimate  relation  which  is  im- 
portant in  the  study  of  their  psychology. 

Mild  anger  may  leave  the  subject  in  a  state  of  curiosity. 
A  feeling  of  doubt  as  to  the  motivation  of  the  offender  may 
appear,  and  curiosity  follows  with  an  awareness  of  a  ten- 
dency for  anger  to  reappear  if  the  occasion  should  arise. 
After  the  emotion  has  passed,  the  subject  is  aware  of  ten- 
dencies or  attitudes,  referring  directly  to  the  mental  b-ehav- 
ior,  which  were  present  during  the  emotion.  An  attitude 
of  indifference  toward  the  offender  and  offending  situation 
follows  what  has  begi  called  the  indifferent  type  of  reac- 
tion.    The  emotion  of  anger  may  leave  the  subject  in  a  state 


70  PSYCHOLOGY  AND  PEDAGOGY  OF  ANGER 

of  confidence  toward  himself,  positive  self- feelings  have  been 
reached  as  a  result  of  the  entire  experience.  On  the  other 
hand,  slightly  reduced  self- feelings  may  follow  if  the  reac- 
tion to  anger  has  been  unsuccessful.  It  may  leave  the  sub- 
ject in  either  a  heightened  or  a  lowered  opinion  of  the  of- 
fender. A  previously  friendly  interest  in  the  person  com- 
mitting the  offense  may  be  increased  or  otherwise.  A  feel- 
ing of  amusement  at  one's  behavior  when  recalling  it  after 
the  emotion  has  disappeared,  is  often  reported.  The  sub- 
ject stands  off,  as  it  were,  and  views  his  own  response  to 
anger  as  if  he  were  a  spectator  rather  than  a  partaker  of  his 
emotion.  What  the  subject  did  when  angry  seems  so  in- 
congruous with  his  mental  state  after  the  emotion  has  dis- 
appeared, that  it  strikes  him  as  ludicrous.  Laughter  and 
amusement  frequently  appear  in  the  recall  of  the  emotional 
situation. 

An  attitude  of  caution  often  follows.  After  a  period  of 
stressed  inhibition,  in  which  the  evil  consequences  of  a  too 
impulsive  behavior  have  been  pre-perceived,  there  is  assumed 
an  attitude  of  control  and  at  the  same  time  a  readiness  to  re- 
spond to  a  suitable  stimulus.  Anger  may  leave  in  its  place 
an  attitude  of  greater  determination  to  make  one's  point,  or 
if  the  emotion  has  been  entirely  satisfactory,  the  subject 
takes  the  attitude  that  the  score  has  been  settled.  An  atti- 
tude of  belief  or  conviction  as  to  a  future  course  of  action 
toward  a  like  offense  may  follow  in  the  period  after  anger, 
which  is  a  direct  result  of  the  conclusion  reached  when  the 
emotion  was  present.  Mild  anger  may  have  changed  the 
feeling  tone  but  little,  but  leaves  the  subject  primed,  and 
ready  to  respond  more  quickly  to  another  offense.  The  re- 
sult of  anger  may  be  purely  a  practical  attitude  as  to  what 
should  be  done  in  such  cases  with  little  marked  feeling  ac- 
companying it.  The  subject  is  left  not  in  a  fighting  atti- 
tude, but  in  one  of  preparedness  to  prevent  the  offense  re- 
curring.    It  is  usually  necessary  in  the  after-period  to  re- 


CONSCIOUS  A^TEiR-EFFECTS  71 

construct  or  modify  the  revengeful  plans  or  conclusions 
which  were  formed  when  the  emotion  was  intense.  What 
seemed  so  justifiable  during  the  emotion  proper,  after  it  has 
disappeared  becomes  strikingly  inopportune.  If  the  emo- 
tion has  disappeared  unsuccessfully  and  resentful  feelings 
still  linger,  the  subject  wishes  to  execute  the  plans  previously 
formed;  but  in  the  act  of  doing  it,  he  usually  finds  difficul- 
ties of  which  he  was  not  aware  when  the  emotion  was  in- 
tense. An  instance  from  A.  will  illustrate.  He  had  been 
intensely  angry  at  X.  and  had  planned  to  tell  him  his  opin- 
ion of  his  conduct.  By  the  time  he  had  opportunity  to 
speak,  the  emotion  had  subsided.  He  observes,  "I  had  at 
this  point  a  severe  struggle  with  myself.  I  wanted  to  tell 
him  what  I  had  planned;  I  felt  I  was  inconsistent  if  I  did 
not.  On  the  other  hand  I  was  slightly  apprehensive,  not  of 
X.,  but  of  making  myself  ludicrous.  I  recognized  what  I 
had  not  before,  that  I  was  not  fully  justified,  and  partially 
excused  him  for  what  he  had  done.  But  the  tendency  to  do 
what  I  had  planned  still  persisted,  and  I  felt  I  would  give 
anything  if  I  could  do  it."  He  reports  further  that  although 
the  emotion  was  now  fear,  at  this  point  "the  tendency  to 
execute  the  plan,  formed  during  the  anger,  persisted  for 
about  fifteen  minutes  of  intense  struggle  with  myself  before 
it  disappeared."  Tendencies  in  the  after-period  of  the  emo- 
tion, which  refer  to  conclusions  or  resolutions  reached  dur- 
ing its  active  stage,  at  times,  when  they  appear  are  passed 
over  lightly  and  even  with  amusement. 

The  eifects  of  anger  may  extend  far  beyond  the  period 
immediately  after  the  emotion  has  disappeared.  The  more 
remote  after-period,  after  the  immediate  effects  have  passed 
off  or  been  modified,  have  important  results  in  our  mental 
life.  The  momentum,  acquired  during  anger  by  determined 
emotional  outburst,  may  be  a  reenforcement  to  volitional  ac- 
tion and  may  allow  old  habits  to  be  more  quickly  broken 
down  and  new  ones  formed.     If  an  error  has  been  repeat- 


72  PSYCHOIvOOY  AND  PEDAGOGY  OF  ANG^R 

edly  made  with  increased  irritation,  till  the  subject  has 
been  thoroughly  aroused  to  anger  at  himself,  the  tendency 
to  repeat  the  error  is  usually  successfully  forestalled  by  an 
attitude  of  caution  and  determination  following  the  emotion. 
The  possible  failure  may  be  prevented  by  mild  anger  at 
the  imagined  humiliating  result,  which  increases  volitional 
action  to  a  point  insuring  success,  and  a  new  momentum  is 
acquired  which  may  have  far  reaching  influences.  Slight 
habitual  mistakes,  like  errors  in  typewriting  or  speaking, 
repeated  forgetting  of  details,  and  social  blunders,  are  re- 
ported as  cured  by  anger. 

Mild  prolonged  anger  which  has  not  had  a  fully  satis- 
factory expression  may  leave  in  its  wake  a  fighting  attitude 
which  if  transferred  into  work  enables  the  subject  to  ac- 
quire new  levels  of  activity.  A  record  from  C.  will  illus- 
trate. He  observes,  "I  would  not  allow  myself  to  be  deject- 
ed, but  have  planned  to  fight  and  dig  into  it  like  everything. 
These  emotions  are  the  greatest  stimuli  I  have.  I  get 
angry,  then  I  want  to  get  down  to  work  for  all  I  am  worth." 
On  the  other  hand,  anger  which  has  been  successfully  ex- 
pressed may  be  followed  by  a  feeling  of  satisfaction  in  the 
result  and  an  attitude  of  success,  which  gives  momentum  for 
increased  volitional  action  in  the  future. 

There  is  usually  a  residuum  from  intense  anger  which  may 
appear  long  after  the  anger  has  consciously  disappeared. 
The  recall  of  the  situation  which  had  previously  excited 
anger  may  have  little  or  no  feeling;  merely  indifference  is 
present.  Sometimes  feelings  of  resentment  and  dislike  are 
observed,  while  at  other  times,  there  is  amusement.  It  fre- 
quently happens  that  while  the  situation  which  has  previ- 
ously excited  the  emotion  may  be  accompanied  by  indiffer- 
ence upon  its  being  recalled  either  voluntarily  or  involun- 
tarily, there  follows  an  emotion  of  dislike  and  hate.  The 
incident  itself  may  be  almost  forgotten,  or  not  recalled  at 
all,  but  the  result  of  anger  is  to  be  observed  in  tendencies 


CONSCIOUS  AFTSR-^FI^ECTS  73 

and  errrotional  dispositions  left  in  the  wake  of  the  emotion. 
An  over-critical  attitude,  with  something  of  a  gossipy  ten- 
dency and  hostile  suspicion  in  which  the  bounds  of  justice 
are  partly  ignored,  may  long  continue  to  reappear  after  the 
emotion  itself  has  passed  away  and  the  situation  has  been 
forgotten.  It  is  rather  probable  that  a  single  strong  out- 
burst of  anger  does  not  leave  the  hostile  emotional  disposi- 
tion in  its  wake.  It  is  usually  the  mild  anger,  preceded  by 
much  feeling  of  humiliation  and  anger  which  tends  to  recur 
again  and  again  till  it  has  settled  to  a  hostile  disposition  to- 
ward the  offender.  It  is  reported  in  some  instances  to  refer 
to  the  offender's  way  of  talking,  laughing,  manner  of  walk- 
ing, his  mode  of  dressing;  in  fact  any  chance  idea  of  the 
offender's  behavior  may  be  sufficient  to  allow  a  feeling  of 
dislike  and  disgust  to  appear. 

It  may  be  said  that  anger  which  disappears  in  an  unsatis- 
factory manner  leaves  an  emotional  disposition  which  pos- 
sesses potentialities  of  both  pleasant  and  unpleasant  feel- 
ings. Some  persons  seem  to  derive  much  satisfaction  is 
picking  the  sores  of  their  unhealed  resentments;  little  acts 
of  revenge  and  retaliation  are  suddenly  hit  upon ;  even  hate 
may  have  its  pleasures.  Small  acts  of  revenge  and  retalia- 
tion are  observed  with  an  affective  state  which  cannot  be 
called  anger,  but  the  subject  is  aware  that  it  refers  to  the 
anger  which  is  passed.  One  subject  became  severely  angry 
at  his  grocer  and  went  to  trade  with  another  merchant  near 
by.  He  states  that  on  several  occasions  just  after  the  anger, 
when  buying  at  another  place  he  felt  pleased  at  the  other 
man's  having  lost  his  trade.  Once  he  observes,  "I  believe 
I  bought  several  things  I  did  not  need,  I  felt  I  was  retaliat- 
ing and  enjoyed  it."  The  emotional  disposition  following 
anger  may  be  a  source  of  rather  intense  enjoyment.  Laugh- 
ter and  mirth  are  observed  with  the  appearance  of  an  idea 
that  has  humiliated  the  offender.  In  such  cases  the  laughter 
is  purely  spontaneous  with  no  recall  of  anger.     Subject  J. 


74  PSYCHOIvOGY  AND  PEDAGOGY  OF  ANGER 

broke  out  laughing  when  told  that  X.  was  on  unfavorable 
terms  with  Y.  His  laughter,  he  observes,  referred  to  a 
resentment  a  few  days  before  against  X.  In  fact  laughter 
frequently  springs  rather  suddenly  from  the  mental  dis- 
position which  has  followed  from  anger.  Such  cases  afford 
another  instance  of  the  close  intimacy  of  our  emotions  with 
each  other.  The  residuum  of  potential  feelings  from  an 
emotion  of  anger  appears  in  the  form  of  less  active  pleas- 
antness. 

There  is  a  relation  between  the  immediate  after-period  of 
anger  and  the  more  remote  one  that  is  important.  If  anger 
is  immediately  followed  by  such  emotions  as  pity,  shame, 
regret  or  fear,  any  positive  tendency  left  over  in  the  remote 
after-period  from  the  emotion  itself  is  apparently  lacking. 
There  is,  however,  a  negative  effect.  The  subject  is  im- 
mune to  re-experience  the  same  emotion  from  the  same  emo- 
tional situation  again,  but  anger  which  has  disappeared  with 
unpleasant  feelings  may  tend  to  recur  in  a  rather  prolonged 
after-period  and  may  finally  settle  into  an  emotional  dis- 
position and  mental  attitude  which  play  an  important  role 
in  behavior  and  later  feelings.  It  seems  to  be  true,  that 
when  anger  disappears  consciously  in  such  a  manner  that 
the  subject  is  aware  that  his  wishes  have  not  been  satisfied 
and  the  disappearance  is  followed  by  unpleasant  feelings,  the 
immediate  after-period  is  rather  barren  as  compared  with  the 
out-cropping  which  appears  in  a  more  remote  period  after 
the  emotion.  In  anger,  when  sudden  control  is  required,  the 
subject  is  forced  to  attend  to  something  else  or  react  con- 
trary to  the  emotional  tendency  to  save  himself  a  later 
humiliation.  The  immediate  after-period  is  usually  one  of 
unpleasantness  and  tension.  Under  such  circumstances,  the 
tendency  to  recur  again  and  again  is  characteristic  and  if,  in 
some  later  recurrence  or  expression  through  the  imaginative 
process,  it  does  not  end  satisfactorily,  it  may  settle  down  to 
an  emotional  disposition  and  mental  attitude. 


CONSCIOUS  AFTER-EFFECTS  75 

Anger  that  arises  from  a  fore-period  of  irritation  in 
which  the  subject  suddenly  bursts  out  with  emotion  may 
have  an  immediate  after-period  of  irritation,  but  it  leaves 
little  in  the  remote  after-period;  the  subject  is  aware  that 
the  emotion  is  finished.  Anger  which  ends  with  active 
pleasantness  of  victory  leaves  an  attitude  of  confidence  and 
success  toward  the  situation  which  has  excited  the  emotion. 
There  is  little  tendency  for  the  emotion,  disappearing  in  this 
fashion,  to  reappear  except  in  its  pleasant  stage.  With  a 
consciousness  of  complete  victory  in  the  immediate  after- 
period,  there  is  established  an  attitude  of  positive  self-feel- 
ing and  confidence  toward  the  situation  exciting  the  emo- 
tion so  that  a  practical  immunity  against  the  reappearance 
of  anger  in  its  unpleasant  stage  is  reached  as  a  negative  re- 
sult of  the  emotion.  There  are  wide  individual  differences 
in  the  ability  of  the  subjects  studied  to  allow  anger  to  dis- 
appear, leaving  a  pleasant  after-period.  C.  reports  but  few 
instances  in  which  his  anger  disappeared  with  a  fully  satis- 
factory result.  He  consequently  has  a  wealth  of  emotional 
dispositions  and  mental  attitudes  following  anger.  On  the 
other  hand  F.  and  E.,  whose  anger  emotions  are  less  in- 
tense, are  early  able  either  to  attain  an  inner  victory  or  to 
react  contrary  to  the  emotion  and  leave  an  after-period  of 
immunity  against  its  reappearance  from  the  same  mental  sit- 
uation. Hence  the  tendencies  and  dispositions  left  over  in 
the  after-period  of  their  anger  are  less.  E/s  dislikes  are 
short  lived.  It  is  probable  that  some  subjects  have  acquired 
the  habit  of  shortening  their  emotions  of  anger,  short-cutting 
the  unpleasant  period  of  restraint  and  early  acquiring 
the  after-period  of  relief,  humor  or  it  may  be  indifference, 
before  the  emotion  has  developed  far. 

Classifications.  Anger  might  be  classified  according  to  a 
number  of  schemes  that  would  serve  the  purpose  of  empha- 
sizing its  characteristics.  From  the  standpoint  of  feeling, 
anger  might  be  classed  as  pleasant  or  unpleasant.     Some 


TO  PSYCHOLOGY  AND  PEDAGOGY  OP  ANGER 

emotions  of  anger  are  observed  to  be  almost  entirely  pleas- 
ant from  their  early  beginning  including  their  final  ending. 
Other  cases  have  fluctuating  pleasant  and  unpleasant  stages. 
There  are  few  instances  of  anger  that  have  no  flash  of  pleas- 
antness anywhere,  in  some  degree  before  the  emotion  is 
finally  completed.  The  unsatisfactorily  expressed  emotion 
is  almost  entirely  unpleasant.  Even  anger  of  this  kind 
usually  shows  some  flash  of  pleasantness  or  relief  at  the 
moment  of  the  angry  outbrust. 

Secondly,  anger  might  be  classified  as  exciting  or  calm. 
The  exciting  anger  has  greater  tension  during  the  period  of 
the  emotion  proper.  There  is  usually  less  co-ordination  and 
greater  intensity  of  feeling  which  may  be  either  pleasant  or 
unpleasant.  The  motor  reactions  are  more  prominent  than 
the  mental  reactions.  On  the  other  hand,  calm  anger  usu- 
ally has  a  longer  observable  fore  and  after-period  of  the  emo- 
tion. Mental  processes  are  intensified,  the  motor  expression 
is  correspondingly  less. 

Anger  may  be  classified  according  to  its  function.  The 
emotion  may  be  merely  an  end  in  itself.  It  relieves  the  ten- 
sion of  unpleasant  feelings.  It  is  purgative  in  its  effect  in 
removing  an  unpleasant  mental  situation.  The  underlying 
purpose  of  such  anger  is  not  to  increase  volitional  action,  in 
fact,  it  may  disturb  coordination  to  any  purposive  end.  This 
type  serves  primarily  to  remove  the  tension  of  unpleasant  ac- 
cumulations of  feelings  in  some  act  of  expression.  If  suc- 
cessful in  its  purpose,  it  may  have  an  indirect  hy genie  effect 
on  mental  action.  Further,  anger  may  be  of  a  kind  which 
intensifies  volitional  action,  accomplishes  work,  and  serves 
the  end  of  survival.  A  residuum  in  mental  attitude  and 
emotional  disposition  follows,  which  has  possibilities  either 
of  morbidity  or  a  source  of  energy  which  is  sublimated  int» 
work. 

Anger  may  be  classified  genetically  on  the  basis  of  senti- 
ments   which    are    violated    in    its    origin.      Anger    whicb 


CONSCIOUS  AlfT^R-E^^ECTS  ^*J- 

Springs  from  a  thwarting  of  desires  is  primary  in  its  origin. 
This  is  the  usual  type  of  anger  of  young  children  and  ani- 
mals. Anger  which  has  its  source  in  the  self-feelings,  such 
as  the  sentiments  of  honor  and  self  respect  and  in  social  feel- 
ings, of  injustice,  of  fairness,  are  genetically  later  in  their 
development. 

Types.  Three  rather  definite  types  appear.  First  is 
anger  which  rises  from  a  fore-period  of  irritable  feelings. 
It  develops  by  a  cumulative  process  of  irascible  feelings, 
through  a  series  of  stimuli  till  the  point  of  anger  is  sud- 
denly reached.  An  idea  is  present  at  the  point  of  anger 
which  serves  as  a  vehicle  of  expression.  It  may  be  an  idea 
not  directly  associated  with  the  situation  exciting  the  emo- 
tion. In  fact  an  apparently  irrelevant  idea  may  break  the 
crust  of  unpleasant  feeling  tension  and  serve  as  an  objective 
reference  for  the  emotion.  Anger  of  this  type  is  scattered. 
It  is  not  necessary  that  the  emotion  be  referred  to  the  actual 
thwarting  idea,  it  frequently  refers  to  inanimate  objects  and 
often  arises  from  the  irritation  accompanying  pain.  The 
active  period  of  this  type  of  emotion  is  mostly  voco-motor 
tension  and  reaction  of  larger  muscles.  The  immediate 
after-period  may  be  a  feeling  of  reHef,  irascible  irritation,  or 
other  emotions  such  as  pity,  shame,  regret  and  fear.  Its  in- 
creased volitional  action  may  establish  a  mental  attitude  of 
caution  and  determination  against  a  future  thwarting  when 
it  is  finished.  A  new  emotion  may  arise  however  from  the 
same  background  of  irritation.  The  after  effects  of  an 
emotion  of  this  type  are  shallow  and  easily  forgotten.  It 
does  not  leave  hate  or  dislike  in  its  wake,  there  is  nothing 
left  over  for  revengeful  behavior. 

A  second  type  of  angcir  is  predetermined  by  another  sort 
of  mental  disposition.  Self-feelings  are  its  source.  An 
idea  excites  negative  self-reeling  and  anger  follows  as  a  re- 
action with  the  purpose  of  restoring  positive  feelings  of  self. 
It  usually  has  a  greater  proportion  of  pleasantness  than  the 


•78  PSYCHOLOGY  AND  PEDAGOGY  OF  ANGER 

type  described  above.  Its  end  is  to  attain  pleasantness  in 
some  form  of  positive  self-feeling,  and  when  that  is  suc- 
cessfully reached  the  emotion  disappears.  Any  idea  from  a 
subjective  or  objective  source  which  intensifies  positive  feel- 
ings of  self,  tends  to  diminish  emotion  of  this  type.  The 
thwarting  of  a  desire,  due  to  the  damage  and  inconvenience 
done,  is  insignificant  as  compared  with  the  thrust  that  one's 
pride  and  self-respect  have  received.  In  the  type  above, 
there  is  thwarting  of  desire;  while  in  this  type,  there  is 
humiliation.  In  fact  in  the  latter  type,  serious  inconven- 
ience may  be  suffered  in  the  effort  to  heal  a  wounded  self 
respect.  Anger  of  this  type  is  not  so  indefinite  in  its  ob- 
jective reference.  It  has  direct  reference  to  an  offender  be- 
fore the  point  of  anger  has  been  reached,  and  another  person 
or  object  cannot  be  substituted  with  any  degree  of  satisfac- 
tion. Anger  of  this  type  leaves  an  important  residuum  after 
the  emotion  has  disappeared  in  the  form  of  other  affective 
processes,  in  tendencies,  mental  attitudes  and  dispositions, 
some  of  which  have  possibilities  of  morbidity,  others  mere 
pleasantness  or  sublimation  into  work. 

A  third  type  of  anger  is  that  which  springs  from  social 
sentiments  involving  justice  and  fairness.  It  has  little  un- 
pleasant fore-period  and  arises  suddenly  without  the  initial 
cumulative  feeling  development  which  is  usual  with  the 
other  types  described.  The  point  of  anger  is  more  readily 
reached;  the  emotion  is  nearer  the  surface  as  if  it  were 
ready  for  a  sudden  rise.  The  origin  of  anger  of  this  type 
is  not  unlike  anger  which  springs  rather  suddenly  from  an 
emotional  disposition  left  over  from  the  second  type  de- 
scribed above.  The  expression  of  the  emotion  in  this  type 
is  less  restrained,  it  is  usually  reported  as  pleasant  through- 
out. While  anger  of  this  type  is  sensitive  to  justice  and 
fairness,  the  two  types  above  may  grossly  disregard  these 
sentiments.  In  its  wake  is  often  observed  the  tendency  to 
reappear.     The  after-period  has  not  the  possibilties  of  so 


CONSCIOUS  AFT^R-EFI^ECTS  79 

intense  pleasure  as  the  second  type  above,  nor  of  morbidity, 
nor  of  a  disposition  capable  of  being  sublimated  into  work. 
The  three  types  above  may  occur  in  a  rather  pure  form 
but  frequently  they  are  mixed.  When  desire  has  been 
thwarted  or  pride  has  been  wounded,  a  sense  of  miscarried 
justice  or  fairness  with  reference  to  self,  intensifies  the 
emotion.  In  addition  to  lowered  self-feeling,  the  social 
sentiment  of  justice  and  fairness  may  re-enforce  the  irasci- 
ble feelings  or  negative  feelings  of  self.  At  times  make-be- 
lieve of  offended  fairness  is  assumed  to  justify  the  angry 
behavior,  and  consequently  increases  the  intensity  and  al- 
lows •  pleasurable  expression  when  the  subject  is  vaguely 
aware  that  the  real  cause  is  his  own  selfish  pride  which  has 
been  wounded. 


EDUCATONAL  FUNCTION 


CHAPTER  five: 

EDUCATIONAL  FUNCTION 
From  the  present  study,  anger  may  be  said  to  have  a  two 
fold  functional  meaning.  First  it  intensifies  volitional  ac- 
tion in  a  useful  direction.  Second,  viewed  from  the  men- 
tal conditions  under  which  it  occurs,  it  may  be  a  super- 
fluous affectivity  and  is  largely  an  end  in  itself.  These 
two  functions  are  not  to  be  separated.  In  fact  any  single 
emotion  of  anger  in  its  different  stages  of  reaction  may  be 
merely  hedonic,  it  may  serve  a  directly  useful  purpose  or  it 
may  be  both.  These  two  functional  aspects  of  anger  are  the 
basis  for  pedagogical  conclusions. 

Sublimation.  Anger  in  a  modified  form  has  been  the 
theme  of  the  poet  and  artist.  With  its  running  mate  fear, 
it  has  played  an  important  role  in  religion.  Primitive  magic 
with  its  self  assertive  coercion  of  the  supernatural,  is  not 
unlike  anger.  The  curse  prayer  of  backward  religion  is 
motivated  by  resentment.  A  deity  with  an  irascible  temper 
like  that  of  the  ancient  Hebrews  suggests  the  role  of  right- 
eous indignation  in  the  discipline  of  the  soul.  Plato*  held 
that  anger  is  at  the  foundation  of  the  organization  of  the 
State.  Ribot  (i6)  has  suggested  that  it  is  at  the  basis  of 
justice.  More  recently  Bergson  writes,  **No  society  can 
reach  civilization  unless  throughout  its  members,  there  exists 
the  nervous  organization  which  supports  the  sentiment  of 
anger  and  hostility  against  criminals;  and  this  physical  or- 
ganization is  the  foundation  of  what  we  call  our  moral 
code."  President  Hall  (lo),  James  (13),  and  Dewey  (5) 
have  suggested  that  much  of  the  best  work  of  the  world 
and  the  great  deeds  of  valor  have  been  done  by  anger.  Dr. 
Hall  states,  "A  large  part  of  education  is  to  teach  men  to  be 
angry  aright, — it  should  be  one  aim  of  pedagogy  to  show 

*The  Republic 

83 


54  PSYCHOIvOGY  AND  PEDAGOGY  OF  ANG^R 

how  the  powers  of  the  soul  should  be  utilized. — Man  has 
powers  of  resentment  which  should  be  hitched  onto  and 
allowed  to  do  good  and  profitable  work.  We  should  keep 
alive  our  emotions  and  allow  them  to  do  our  labor."  (From 
lecture  notes.)  It  has  been  suggested  by  Wundt  (22), 
James  (13)  and  Stanley  (17)  that  the  function  of  anger 
is  to  increase  volitional  action.  The  latter  author  writes, 
**At  some  point  in  the  course  of  evolution,  anger  comes  in 
as  a  stimulant  to  aggressive  willed  action.  Some  favored 
individual  first  attained  the  power  of  getting  mad,  in  vio- 
lently attacking  his  fellows  and  so  attaining  sustenance 
likely  in  the  struggle  for  food."  The  same  author  further 
writes,  '*We  take  it  then  that  it  was  a  most  momentous  day 
in  the  progress  of  mind  when  anger  was  first  achieved  and 
some  individuals  really  got  mad." 

Education  has  to  do  with  the  function  of  anger  in  human 
needs,  in  growth  and  development  and  in  mental  hygiene. 
Ethics  has  at  times  advocated  the  elimination  of  anger  as  if 
it  were  a  noxious  product.  From  a  pedagogical  view,  it 
should  be  cultivated  and  excited  aright.  The  familiar  mor- 
al exhortations,  'Xet  not  the  sun  go  down  on  your  wrath," 
"Love  your  enemies  and  do  good  to  those  that  hate  you," 
and  others  like  them,  are  in  accord  with  some  satisfactory 
individual  reactions  to  anger  from  the  feeling  side,  which 
have  been  cited;  but  their  universal  appHcation  would  not 
always  serve  the  purpose  of  ethics.  In  pedagogical  prac- 
tice, they  would  fall  short.  A  good  healthy  resentment  is, 
at  times,  a  good  thing  and  should  be  kept  alive.  The  emo- 
tion, if  it  works,  must  not  die  out  too  satisfactorily  at  the 
cost  of  real  effort.  There  should  be  a  working  resi- 
duum for  the  time  when  it  is  needed.  An  injury 
may  be  forgiven  too  quickly  and  resentment  given  up  too 
easily.  A  healthy  fighting  attitude,  increased  caution  and 
willed  action  turned  into  productive  work  is  often  subverted 
for  an  immediate  satisfactory  ending  of  the  emotion.   There 


EDUCATIONAI.  FUNCTION  85 

are  none  of  the  subjects  studied  but  observe  this  wholesome 
effect  of  anger  at  times.  Anger  may  disappear  successfully 
and  satisfactorily  on  the  side  of  the  feelings.  The  subject 
may  attain  the  full  sense  of  victory  by  a  number  of  devices 
of  make-believe,  substitution,  disguise,  etc.  An  inner  vic- 
tory may  be  a  good  thing.  In  fact,  all  subjects  would,  at 
times,  resort  to  imaginative  processes  motivated  by  the  feel- 
ing and  impulsive  side  of  the  emotion.  A  subjective  satis- 
faction may  in  fact  save  the  day,  clear  the  mental  atmos- 
phere, so  to  speak,  and  allow  mental  life  to  continue  along 
its  habitual  lines.  On  the  other  hand,  a  subjective  victory 
may  become  too  easy.  On  the  verge  of  defeat,  victory  is  at 
times  imagined  which  takes  the  place  of  real  volition.  The 
fight  may  be  carried  too  far  through  the  medium  of  ideas 
leaving  little  enthusiasm  for  actual  effort.  A  too  easy  habit 
of  excusing  the  offender  at  times  serves  an  unprofitable 
end.  Anger  should  not  be  cut  off  too  near  its  beginning  by 
finding  excuses  too  readily  for  the  offender  or  offending 
situation.  It  should  at  least  be  allowed  to  get  a  little  above 
the  initial  feeling  stage  to  keep  the  -emotional  life  alive  or 
there  is  danger  of  lapsing  into  obliviousness  to  essential 
rights;  mental  life  becomes  too  prosaic  and  commonplace, 
on  a  plateau  with  no  capacity  to  acquire  new  levels. 

A  second  point  of  which  the  writer  is  convinced,  is  that  in 
order  to  study  the  emotions,  especially  the  deep  seated  pri- 
mary emotions  like  fear  and  anger,  it  is  necessary  to  take 
into  account  the  finer  working  of  the  emotion  in  its  feeling 
and  impulsive  stage  of  development  and  disappearance.  In 
fact,  the  milder  tenuous  emotions  of  anger  are  markedly 
important  from  the  educational  side  as  well  as  psycholog- 
ically. The  normal  function  of  the  emotion  is  better  ex- 
emplified in  the  less  intense  experiences.  Anger,  as  it  is 
usually  thought  of,  is  the  emotion  in  its  excited  uncontrolled 
stage.  Anger,  sublimated  into  keener  intellectual  and  willed 
action,  is  no  less  anger  though  its  affective  side  is  less  in- 


86  PSYCHOI^OGY  AND  PEDAGOGY  OF  ANG^R 

tense;  its  reactive  side  is  working  in  better  accord  with  the 
evolutionary  function  of  the  emotion, — to  intensify  action  in 
a  needed  direction.  In  fact,  affective  processes  of  indigna- 
tion, resentment  and  irascible  feelings  which  are  not  called 
anger  in  the  popular  sense,  from  the  scientific  side  should 
be  considered  a  part  of  the  anger  consciousness.  They  have 
the  feeling  fore-stage  of  humiliation  and  an  intellectual  re- 
action ;  the  residuum  of  the  affective  process  has  every  mark 
of  that  victorious  satisfaction,  which  is  typical  of  anger. 
Such  tenuous  emotions  are  reported  to  have  far  reaching 
results  in  mental  behavior  and  personal  development.  One 
subject,  resentful  at  an  implication  against  the  value  of  his 
work,  considers  that  it  stimulated  him  to  increased  deter- 
mined action  and  intensified  endeavor  for  several  months  in 
order  to  show  the  offender  he  was  wrong.  A.,  resentful  of 
X.'s  adverse  suggestion,  put  in  three  days  of  severe  intellec- 
tual labor  to  prove  his  point.  E.  observes  that  a  humilia- 
tion and  mild  resentment  was  a  keen  stimulus  to  his  ambi- 
tion. His  ambitious  behavior,  he  considers  was  accompan- 
ied by  increased  friendliness  toward  the  offender.  The 
question  was  privately  put  to  a  number  of  persons  as  to  the 
effects  of  resentment  on  some  of  their  ambitions  in  the  past. 
Every  person  who  was  asked,  after  a  careful  recall,  was 
able  to  find  one  and  some  times  several  instances  of  import- 
ant results  of  anger  of  this  kind.  Some  persons  from  early 
childhood  have  habitually  reacted  to  little  resentments  to 
beat  the  offender  in  an  ambitious  way.  One  person  with 
defective  eyes  early  became  sensitive  about  it.  Any  impli- 
cation against  his  defect  was  always  reacted  to,  he  says,  by 
saying  to  himself,  **I  will  show  you  I  can  do  more  with  poor 
eyes  than  you  can  with  good  ones,  and  you  will  be  sorry 
some  day."  M.  28 — "Resentful  because  the  parents  of  a 
lady  to  whom  I  was  paying  attention  did  not  approve  of  me, 
I  determined  to  make  so  much  of  myself  that  they  would  be 
sorry.     It  was  one  of  the  main  incentives  to  my  entering  on 


e:ducational  junction  87 

a  career.  With  this  aim  I  went  to  the  University ;  I  worked 
hard  with  success.  Many  times  during  the  year  I  would 
recall  the  incident  and  would  resolve  again  and  again  to 
show  them  some  day.  For  two  years  this  idea  was  pretty 
constantly  in  my  mind.  In  the  course  of  four  years  I  now 
take  keen  satisfaction  in  recalling  that  I  have  partly  accom- 
plished my  purpose."  M.  25. — "Four  years  ago  a  friend 
whom  I  admire  much,  told  me  that  I  would  never  make  a 
scientist.  I  have  resented  it  ever  since  and  have  laid  plans 
to  show  him,  which  I  have  partly  carried  out.  Every  once 
in  a  while  I  recall  his  statement  in  connection  with  my  work. 
It  spurs  me  on.  I  imagine  myself  sending  him  a  copy  of  my 
scientific  problem  on  which  I  am  working."  M.  34. — "In 
my  sophomore  year  in  college,  I  failed  to  be  elected  presi- 
dent of  our  literary  society.  I  became  resentful  against  the 
one  who  beat  me  in  the  election.  This  person  was  ambi- 
tious in  college  contests.  I  now  laid  plans  to  beat  him.  I 
went  into  an  oratorical  contest  first  with  the  sole  aim  of  sur- 
passing" him.  I  did  not  care  about  the  others.  I  am  cer- 
tain that  I  would  never  have  gone  into  this  contest  and 
others  if  it  had  not  been  for  a  deep  set  resentment  developed 
against  him.  I  recall  yet  how  in  practicing  and  writing  in 
contests  during  the  two  years  of  my  college  work  my  aim 
principally  was  to  surpass  this  person.  We  were  good 
friends  all  the  time." 

—  Such  tenuous  resentments  which  persist  for  years,  it  may 
be,  against  people  with  whom  one  is  on  friendly  terms,  and 
which  are  accompanied  by  a  rather  sudden  rise  in  the  curve 
of  personal  growth,  are  evidently  an  essential  part  of  the 
anger  consciousness.  Smaller  achievements  of  individual 
worth  are  often  reported  to  be  the  direct  result  of  a  healthy 
sort  of  reaction  from  resentment.  It  is  entirely  probable 
that  most  persons,  especially  those  of  irascible  disposition, 
could  point  to  sudden  spurts  in  their  own  personal  develop- 
ment  and   achievement,   which   were   motivated   by   anger 


88  PSYCHOLOGY  AND  PEDAGOGY  OF  ANGER 

which  never  reached  the  stage  of  intense  excitability  or  from 
the  residuum  of  exciting  anger  which  disappeared  unsuc- 
cessfully. Freiid  (9)  has  taken  the  view  that  much  of  biog- 
raphy should  be  rewritten  to  include  the  part  that  sexual 
motives,  which  have  been  sublimated,  play  in  personal  am- 
bitions. Evidently  anger  cannot  be  neglected  by  one  who 
seeks  for  motives  of  personal  growth  whether  biographer  or 
educator. 

A  too  soft  pedagogy  which  would  heal  over  too  soon  the 
injury  to  self-feelings,  has  its  disadvantages.  Encourage- 
ment at  times  by  superficial  means  may  cut  off  a  good 
healthy  angry  reaction  which  may  be  needed.  In  fact  a  little 
lowered  self-feeling  with  an  irascible  response  is  a  good 
thing  and  it  may  be  a  signal  for  "hands  off,"  or  a  little  skill- 
ful and  judicious  suggestion.  It  is  frequently  observed  by 
the  subjects  studied  that  anger  at  self  intensifies  a  lagging 
willed  action  and  breaks  up  interferring  habits.  A  quota- 
tion from  B.  will  illustrate.  "I  turned  the  anger  inward  and 
vituperated  against  myself  for  being  such  a  lazy  man.  The 
emotion  of  the  moment  was  relieved  and  I  feel  now  like  get- 
ting down  to  work  at  the  stuff  and  getting  it  out  of  the  way." 
Some  subjects  work  at  their  very  best  when  mildly  angry. 
Attention  and  association  processes  are  intensified  to  the 
point  that  real  difficulties  disappear.  Anger  in  the  exciting 
stage  and  at  a  situation  too  remote  from  the  problem  at 
hand,  interferes  with  mental  work.  Bryan  and  Harter 
(3)  in  their  study  of  skill  in  telegraphy,  found  that  the 
skillful  operator  may  work  best  when  angry,  but  the  inex- 
perienced worker  is  less  efficient.  ^  Michael  Angelo  is  said 
to  have  worked  at  his  best  in  a  state  of  irascible  temper. 
The  mass  of  mankind  are  sluggish  and  need  a  hearty  resent- 
ment as  a  stimulant.  If  the  circumstances  are  too  soft  and 
easy,  the  best  which  is  in  a  man  may  be  dormant;  there  is 
no  tonic  to  a  strong  nature  capable  of  bearing  it  like  anger. 


EDUCATIONAL  FUNCTION  89 

Many  a  good  intellect  has  lacked  the  good  powers  of  re- 
sentment necessary  for  the  most  efficient  work.  The  boy 
who  has  not  the  capacity  for  anger  should  be  deliberately 
taught  it  by  some  means.  Gothe,  who  was  a  rather  keen 
observer  of  human  nature,  said,  "With  most  of  us  the  re- 
quisite intensity  of  passion  is  not  forth-coming  without  an 
element  of  resentment,  and  common  sense  and  careful  ob- 
servation will  I  believe  confirm  the  opinion  that  few  people 
who  amount  to  anything  are  without  a  good  capacity  for 
hostile  feelings  upon  which  they  draw  freely  when  they  need 
it." 

Need  of  Bxpression.ThQ  second  condition  for  the  expres- 
sion of  anger  is  that  in  which  reaction  is  an  end  in  itself.  It 
may  be  said  that  while  on  the  one  hand  from  a  genetic  and 
utilitarian  point  of  view  the  function  of  anger  is  to  do  work, 
to  aid  in  behavior,  where  increased  willed  action  is  needed; 
on  the  other,  the  mere  expressional  side  in  connection  with 
feeling  and  impulse  assumes  an  important  role  in  every  emo- 
tion. In  fact  with  intense  and  exciting  anger,  utility  may  be 
ignored  and  actually  thwarted,  volitional  action  is  exerted 
contrary  to  objective  needs. 

There  is  much  in  the  expression  of  anger  in  both  the  sub- 
jective and  objective  reaction  to  the  emotion  whose  impul- 
sive aim  is  merely  to  release  unpleasant  feeling  tension,  to 
clear  the  mental  atmosphere,  so  to  speak.  A  brief  resume 
of  the  reacti^i^  consciousness  to  anger  will  illustrate.  First 
on  the  feeling  side  there  occurs  a  mental  situation  accom- 
panied by  a  tendency  to  expression  in  order  to  remove  or 
modify  the  situation.  Irritation  may  be  relieved  or  turned 
into  pleasantness  by  the  reaction.  Lowered  self- feeling  may 
be  restored  with  extra  compensation  in  pleasurable  feelings 
of  victory,  if  the  reaction  has  been  successful.  Second,  the 
expression  of  anger  involves  restraint,  the  cruder  unsocial 
tendencies  are  controlled  and  others  are  substituted  of  a 
less  objectionable  and  offensive  nature.     By  both  objective 


90  PSYCHOLOGY  AND  PEDAGOGY  OF  ANGER 

and  subjective  reactions,  devices  of  disguise,  transfer  and 
modification  of  the  unsocial  pugnacious  tendencies  may 
allow  the  restraint  to  be  released  and  the  emotive  tendency 
fully  satisfied,  in  which  a  feeling  of  pleasantness  follows. 
Third,  the  reaction  which  has  been  fully  satisfactory  from 
the  feeling  side,  is  followed  by  a  partial  or  complete  immun- 
ity against  the  recurrence  of  the  anger  from  the  same  mental 
situation,  as  the  successful  reaction  has  removed  the  mental 
situation  from  which  the  emotion  arose. 

Anger  from  the  point  of  view  stated  above,  touches  upon 
the  second  educational  aim.  So  large  a  part  of  the  reactive 
consciousness  to  anger  is  motivated  to  find  a  successful  sur- 
rogate for  cruder  and  unsocial  tendencies  which  are  objec- 
tional,  that  this  side  of  anger  expression  is  educationally  im- 
portant. It  is  a  desirable  personal  equipment  to  have  strong 
potentialities  of  anger.  However  there  should  be  a  men- 
tality which  is  versatile  and  active  enough  by  training  and 
habit  to  react  successfully  to  the  emotion,  in  the  first  place 
to  use  such  reservoirs  of  energy  for  work,  and  second,  to 
react  satisfactorily  from  the  feeling-side,  where  the  instinc- 
tive tendencies  are  restrained,  and  break  up  morbid  and  un- 
pleasant mental  tension  which  may  be  an  inference. 

A  good  angry  outburst  at  times  may  be  a.  good  thing,  but 
most  frequently  some  sort  of  surrogate  is  more  satisfactory. 
Habits  of  witticism,  refined  joking,  a  little  good-natured  play 
and  teasing  within  the  limits  of  propriety  serves  a  worthy 
end  for  mental  hygiene,  and  often  leaves  a  basis  for  good 
will  and  a  friendship  which  would  otherwise  be  in  danger. 
The  habit  of  suddenly  breaking  up  an  angry  tension  by  a 
good  thrust  of  wit  or  joke  would  be  a  good  one  to  inculckte 
with  the  irascibly  inclined.  Many  persons  suffer  in  feelings 
and  lack  of  good  friendship  because  they  have  never  learned 
to  be  good  mental  sparrers  and  to  relieve  their  emotions  by 
socially  appropriate  reaction  rather  than  by  a  method  of  re- 
pression which  is  cheaper  at  the  moment  but  more  expensive 


EDUCATIONAL  FUNCTION  9X 

in  the  end.  Their  anger  is  too  absorbing  and  serious.  It 
lacks  the  necessary  flexibility,  their  emotions  are  too  near  the 
instinctive  level  and  when  the  instinctive  tendencies  are  re- 
strained they  lack  mental  habits  of  purging  their  feelings  in 
a  satisfactory  way,  consequently  suppression  is  resorted  to 
as  a  self-defense. 

Anger  and  Instruction.  As  Terman  (20)  has  pointed 
out,  the  emotions  employed  in  the  act  of  instruction  need  a 
systematic  investigation.  The  emotions  brought  into  play 
in  school  control,  as  incentive  to  work,  emotional  reactions 
which  retard,  and  those  which  accelerate  learning  and  effi- 
cient work  in  classes,  these  are  little  known  scientifically. 

Anger,  or,  perhaps,  better  potentialities  of  anger  in  both 
teacher  and  pupils,  is  impulsively  used  in  the  role  of  teach- 
ing. Skill  in  using  this  emotion  aright  is  part  of  the  teach- 
er's stock  in  trade.  Pugnacity  in  the  form  of  rivalry  is  a 
comm^on  device. 

Individual  Differences.  First,  there  is  the  problem  of 
individual  differences  in  the  emotional  life  of  students ;  and 
the  teacher,  too,  for  that  matter.  With  some,  the  dominant 
emotion  is  fear  and  anxiety.  The  material  of  the  present 
study  shows  a  wide  variation  in  the  type  and  character  of 
emotional  reactions  of  the  subjects  studied  in  which  anger 
is  one  of  the  most  frequently  occurring  emotions.  This  dif- 
ference is  illustrated  by  the  following  summary  from  three 
subjects:  With  J.,  anger  predominates  over  fear;, he  knows 
but  little  of  the  latter  emotion.  Anger  usually  occurs  from 
a  fore-period  of  lowered  self-feeling,  the  feeling  intensity  of 
the  fore-period  is  not  strong.  The  reactive  stage  of  the 
anger  does  not  reach  a  high  degree  of  excitement.  With 
him,  anger  usually  disappears  into  indifference  and  un- 
pleasantness, leaving  tendencies  of  passive  dislike.  He  ob- 
served no  cases  of  anger  at  injustice  or  unfairness  except 
when  the  latter  sentiments  referred  to  himself.  His  anger 
for  the  most  part  is  an  unsuccessful  experience  and  is  un- 


92  PSYCHOIvOGY  AND  PEJDAGOGY  O^  ANG^R 

pleasant.  He  consequently  tries  to  avoid  getting  angry  and 
has  relatively  few  emotions.  The  after-period  of  his  anger 
tends  to  be  a  little  morbid,  lacking  any  strongly  marked  dis- 
position which  is  the  source  of  tendencies  to  do  more  work. 
Subject  G.  has  anger  as  a  dominant  emotion  over  fear.  He 
scarcely  knows  anger  which  arises  from  a  fore-period  of 
humiliation  except  anger  at  himself  when  he  has  been  in- 
efficient. He  does  not  hold  resentments  against  persons  but 
against  situations  and  principles.  Anger  is  usually  unpleas- 
ant except  a  mild  after-period  of  relief.  With  him,  anger  is 
a  means  of  throwing  off  superfluous  feelings  of  irritation 
and  serves  but  little  the  purpose  of  work,  except  to  increase 
volitional  action  for  the  moment.  His  anger  often  refers  to 
himself.  Anger  at  unfairness  tends  to  refer  to  the  principle 
rather  than  to  the  person.  The  emotion  occurs  more  fre- 
quently when  he  is  unwell.  It  is  rather  slow  to  appear,  by 
a  gradual  accumulation,  till  the  point  of  anger  is  reached; 
the  emotion  does  not  attain  a  high  degree  of  excitement. 
With  subject  C.  the  character  and  type  of  anger  reaction  is 
in  marked  contrast  to  the  two  subjects  mentioned  above.  He 
knows  but  little  of  fear  except  in  extreme  situations.  His 
anger  nearly  all  springs  from  a  fore-period  of  humiliation 
and  is  often  intense  in  its  most  active  stage.  For  a  time 
during  the  most  intense  stage  of  the  emotion,  he  almost 
loses  the  sense  of  justice;  but  as  the  emotion  begins  to  die 
down,  he  has  a  habit  of  excusing  the  offender  and  looking  at 
his  side  of  the  question.  His  anger  is  frequently  followed 
by  pity,  remorse,  shame  and  fear.  The  emotion  is  both 
pleasant  and  unpleasant.  The  disappearance  is  usually  un- 
pleasant and  leaves  a  wealth  of  affective  tendencies  and 
mental  attitudes  which  are  later  a  source  of  both  pleasant 
and  unpleasant  feelings.  Anger  is  one  of  the  greatest  stim- 
uli he  has  to  do  work.  He  will  work  for  days  preparing, 
some  subject  in  which  he  has  had  opposition  that  excited 
his  resentment  in  order  to  even  up  with  the  offender,  and 


ISDUCATIONAI.  JUNCTION  93 

takes  extreme  delight  in  making  his  point.  His  tendency 
to  anger  is  greater  when  feeling  well  pleased  with  himself. 
The  residuum  of  his  emotion  involves  attitudes  of  determi- 
nation and  idealization  which  plays  an  important  role  in  his 
ambition  in  general. 

The  description  above  will  suffice  to  show  the  problem 
in  individual  differences  in  emotional  life.  With  some  sub- 
jects fear  is  the  ruling  passion.  Subjects  A.  and  B.  have 
almost  an  even  proportion  of  fear  and  anger  during  the  per- 
iod of  observation.  However  these  instances  represent 
adult  persons.  How  far  the  habitual  emotional  reactions 
are  determined  by  training  and  instruction,  is  an  important 
question.  It  is  highly  probable  that  the  character  of  train- 
ing in  childhood  and  early  adolescence  plays  a  leading  part. 
Subject  C.  above  was  an  only  child  and  took  considerable 
license,  almost  getting  beyond  the  control  of  his  parents  at 
an  early  age.  J.  reports  that  at  early  adolescense,  anger 
was  much  more  frequent  and  intense  than  at  present.  He 
believes  that  an  early  philosophical  notion  that  intelligence 
should  dominate  the  emotions,  had  an  influence  in  establish- 
ing his  present  emotional  habits.  G.  was  early  taught  that 
it  was  sinful  to  get  angry,  an  idea  which  he  accepted  at  the 
time.  His  anger  rarely  refers  to  persons  but  vents  on  ob- 
jects, principles  and  situations  involved.  He  has  relatively 
few  emotions  of  anger.  He  believes  that  his  early  religious 
training  was  of  importance  in  moulding  the  habitual  reac- 
tions which  he  now  assumes  when  angry.  Such  material 
as  we  have  makes  it  entirely  probable  that  a  large  part  of  the 
habtual  mental  reactions  assumed  in  anger  is  the  result  of 
training.  It  may  be  said  further  that  when  instruction  in- 
volves affairs  of  emotional  life,  individual  difference  become 
a  still  more  pressing  problem  than  when  intelligence  is  the 
criterion. 

Other  inferences  of  the  role  of  anger  in  the  act  of  instruc- 
tion are  suggested  from  the  present  study.     If  the  teacher 


94  PSYCHOI.OGY  AND  PE;DAG0GY  OF  ANGE^R 

himself  does  not  possess  the  abihty  of  well  defined  resent- 
ment against  an  infringement  of  fairness,  advantage  of  this 
defect  may  be  taken  by  the  alert  pupil  unless  there  is  com- 
pensation for  it  in  another  drection  as  by  the  principle  of 
co-operation,  by  love  or  pride  appealed  to.  Cooley  however 
puts  the  matter  a  little  too  strongly  when  he  says,  ''No  teach- 
er can  maintain  discipline  unless  his  scholars  feel  that  in 
some  manner  he  will  resent  a  breach  of  it."  (Human  Na- 
ture and  the  Social  Order,  Page  244.)  The  method  of 
school  control  itself  refers  to  some  extent  to  the  individual 
emotional  life  of  the  teacher,  as  well  as  pupil. 

When  anger  enters  into  the  role  of  discipline,  of  the 
three  types  already  discussed,  that  which  springs  from  the 
sentiment  of  justice  is  most  efficient  in  instruction.  Anger 
which  arises  from  irritable  feelings,  from  its  nature  be- 
comes a  dangerous  emotion  to  be  used  in  discipline.  Emo- 
tion of  this  type  develops  by  a  cumulative  process  till  the 
point  of  anger  has  been  reached.  It  too  readily  ignores 
justice  and  is  easily  transferred  from  the  real  offender  and 
may  finally  break  out  against  an  innocent  party  who  may 
have  unwittingly  touched  off  the  feelings  which  have  been 
accumulated  by  previous  stimuli,  consequently  anger  of  this 
type  which  is  so  frequently  displayed  in  school  rooms  usu- 
ally defeats  the  ends  of  discipline.  Anger  with  a  fore-per- 
iod of  lowered  self-feeling  because  of  the  personal  element 
entering  into  this  type  of  anger  and  the  tendency  to  ignore 
justice  can  evidently  be  resorted  to  but  sparingly  in  school 
control  unless  it  also  involves  the  sense  of  justice. 

Another  point  the  teacher  has  to  take  into  account  is  that 
from  bis  position,  if  he  is  held  in  respect,  the  anger  he  excites 
in  the  student  will  usually  be  preceded  by  humiliation  and,  if 
he  has  been  unfair,  it  will  be  intensified  by  the  sense  of  of- 
fended fairness.  Anger  of  this  type  is  the  one  most  fre- 
quently followed  by  an  emotional  disposition  against  the  of- 
fender.    It  is  the  residuum    of    unsuccessfully    expressed 


^DU CATION AI.  FUNCTION  95 

anger  of  this  type  which  becomes  a  disturbing  element  in 
school  control  with  the  student  who  is  irascibly  inclined. 
The  wise  teacher  who  understands  the  individual  emotional 
life  of  the  pupil  and  the  nature  of  the  after-period  of  anger, 
will  skillfully  remove  the  morbid  residuum  and  ally  the  re- 
sentful pupil  on  his  side.  Dislike  following  anger,  is  skill- 
fully removed,  will  frequently  increase  the  friendship  of  the 
offender  more  than  before  the  offense.  This  principle  of 
compensation  in  the  after-period  is  thus  to  be  utilized  in  dis- 
cipline. It  may  be  a  good  plan  deliberately  to  bring  a 
moody  pupil  to  the  point  of  anger  and  let  him  vent  his 
wrath.  Any  punishment  in  discipline  has  the  possibilities 
of  being  dangerous  to  school  control,  especially  with  the 
student  of  pugnacious  disposition,  if  the  justice  of  the  pun- 
ishment cannot  be  recognized  by  the  offending  pupil.  Evi- 
dently a  mistake  in  control  is  not  to  recognize  the  individual 
differences  in  emotional  life  and  to  attempt  to  use  the  disci- 
pline of  fear  with  an  irascible  boy  who  knows  no  fear. 
Anger,  disappearing  unsuccessfully,  may  leave  a  morbid  res- 
iduum which  completely  disqualifies  the  student  for  efficient 
learning,  consequently  when  it  exists,  it  is  the  business  of  the 
educator  to  remove  the  morbidity,  transform  it  into 
work  or  to  have  the  pupil  transferred ;  for  it  may  be  as  ser- 
ious a  hindrance  to  learning  as  adenoids  or  defective  sense 
organs. 

There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  a  large  part  of  the 
mental  reactions  to  anger  is  individually  acquired  habits, 
consequently  successful  and  satisfactory  reactions  are  a  mat- 
ter of  training.  Potentialities  of  anger  may  actually  be 
taught  indirectly  by  building  up  the  sentiments  and  mental 
disposition  from  which  anger  arises.  Whatever  will  in- 
crease ideals  and  new  desires,  achievements  in  school  which 
allow  a  better  opinion  of  self  and  build  up  the  sentiment  of 
self-regard,  of  fairness  and  justice,  are  at  work  at  the  very 
root  of  anger  consciousness.     The  study  of  the  mental  situ- 


96  PSYCHOLOGY  AND  PEDAGOGY  OF  ANG^R 

ation  from  which  anger  arises  allows  every  reason  to  believe 
that  when  there  is  a  lack  of  potentialities  to  anger,  it  may  be 
built  up  in  this  indirect  manner.  The  student  who  lacks 
good  healthy  resentment  when  the  proper  stimulus  is  at 
hand  evidently  is  weak  in  the  sentiment  of  self-regard,  de- 
sire to  achieve,  or  sense  of  fairness. 

Whatever  exercises  will  excite  the  pugnacious  instinct, 
if  done  satisfactorily  may  involve  a  training  in  emotional 
\  habits.  Habits  of  good  fighting  in  work  and  play,  the  give 
and  take  in  debate,  class  discussion,  the  witty  retort,  boxing, 
the  team  games  if  carried  on  aright,  afford  good  exercise 
for  the  emotions.  To  acquire  good  habits  of  behavior  when 
under  fire,  to  fight  clean  and  to  the  finishing  point,  to  take 
defeat  in  a  sportsman-like  manner,  are  valuable  acquisitions 
educationally  whether  they  are  acquired  in  athletics  or  the 
rivalry  of  intellectual  work.  On  the  other  hand,  athletics 
and  mental  contests  may  be  carried  on  under  conditions  of 
emotional  reaction,  which  defeat  the  aim  of  healthy  emotion- 
al habits  and  consequently  lack  their  better  educational  sig- 
nificance. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


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INDEX 


INDEX 

Ach :  On  study  of  will,  6. 

Anger :  On  voluntary  control  of,  7 ;  introspection  of,  7,  12- 
13;  function  of,  8,  68;  mental  situation  giving  rise  to, 
ch.  i;  fore-period  of,  ch.  i;  referring  to  persons,  15,  16, 
26;  referring  to  objects;  referring  to  self,  22-23; 
delayed  disappearance  of,  23-25 ;  without  immediate 
fore-period,  25-27;  behavior  of  consciousness  during, 
ch.  II,  53 ;  vocal  expression  of,  36-38 ;  attributive  reaction 
to,  33-46;  contrary  reaction  to,  46-50;  indifferent  re- 
action to,  50 ;  disappearance  of,  ch.  iii,  60-62,  conscious 
after-effects  of,  ch.  iv,  74;  classification  of,  75,  y'j-y 
types  of,  77-79;  education  of,  ch.  v;  at  servants  and 
children,  15;  in  relation  to  justice,  22,  83,  16;  after 
period  of,  74,  ch.  iv;  control  of,  53,  58,  59;  in  school 
control,  91-94. 

Aristotle:  On  education  of  emotions,  i. 

Attention :    Change  of  in  disappearance  of  anger,  58. 

Attitude:    Reaction  to  anger,  44-46,  58,  70. 

Attributive  Reaction:     In  expression  of  anger,  32. 

Bain:     On  introspective  view  of  anger,  12. 

Behavior :    Importance  in  study  of  emotions,  2,  7. 

Bergson :    Concerning  anger  and  society,  83. 

Bryan  and  Harter :  Effects  of  anger  during  practice,  88. 

Dewey,  John:  On  relation  of  instinct  and  emotions,  12; 
concerning  the  function  of  anger,  83. 

Emotion :    Function  of,  5,  85-88 ;  introspection  of,  i ;  import- 


ance  of  structure  of,  i ;  rnethod  of  study  of,  6 ;  factors 
in  development  of,  ii ;  initial  steps  of,  15. 

Feelings :  Irritable  feelings  in  development  of  anger,  13, 
14-15.     Sec  pleasantness  and  unpleasantness. 

Fere:     Concerning  anger  with  paranoices,  12. 

Freud :  On  sex  as  a  motive  in  conduct,  88  ;  on  theory  of  wit, 
39-40. 

Function:    Referring  to  anger,  8,  68,  72,  ch.  v. 

Gothe:     On  function  of  resentment,  89. 

Gossip :    And  anger,  39,  42,  56,  59,  72. 

Hall :  Concerning  education  of  anger,  83 ;  on  education  of 
emotions,  84. 

Habits:    And  expression  of  anger,  95. 

Hate:    Development  from  anger,  72. 

Individual  Differences :  In  emotional  behavior,  59,  75,  91-94. 

Ins'tructnon :     And  anger,  91-93. 

Introspection:     Difficulty  of  with  emotions,  i. 

Imagination:  A  factor  in  control  and  expression  of  anger, 
37,  62,  85 ;  invective,  36-38. 

Imagery:    Visual  and  motor  in  expression  of  anger,  33-35. 

Irony:    A  means  of  reaction  to  anger,  36-42. 

Irons,  David:  Appearance  of  anger,  12;  behavior  of  con- 
sciousness during  anger,  31. 

James,  William :    On  function  of  anger,  33,  84. 

Joy:     Following  anger,  69,  73-74. 

Justice:  Facilitates  development  of  anger,  16;  ignoring  of 
when  angry,  22,  83. 

Kiilpe:    Concerning  voluntary  action  and  emotions,  12. 

Make-believe :    In  expression  of  anger,  39,  62. 

Magnan:     Concerning  anger  in  paranoices,  12. 


McDougall:    On  genetic  view  of  origin  of  anger,  ii. 

Pity :    Following  anger,  65,  66. 

Pedagogy :    Danger  of  too  soft,  88. 

Play :    A  means  of  expression  of  anger,  35-36. 

Pleasantness :     A  condition  of  disappearance  of  anger,  60, 

53,  55'  57,  59;  in  after-period  of  anger,  67,  73. 
Ribot:     On  anger  and  justice,  83. 
Sarcasm :    In  expression  of  anger,  38,  41. 
Self :    Imaginary  exhaltation  of,  43-44. 
Sentiment  of  Self  Regard:    Fore-period  of  anger,  20-21. 
Steinmetz:     On  danger  with  primative  people,  12. 
Shame:     Following  anger,  17,  66. 
Sublimation :    In  expression  of  anger,  83-92. 
Swearing:    In  expression  of  emotions,  37. 
Titchener:    On  factors  in  development  of  emotions,  11. 
Unpleasantness:     During  anger,  54,  60,  74. 
Witticism :    In  expression  of  anger,  39-42,  58. 
Wundt:     Concerning  voluntary  action,  5,  84. 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


AN     INITIAL     FINE     OF     25     CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
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DAY  AND  TO  $T.OO  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
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DEC    5  195fc 

JUL    30  1936 

JAN    2,ii  194c 
7Dec'53Vt 


f^m 


RSC'D  LD 

MAR  6    1959 


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I«I/19'64-8PM 


0CC1619551C 

l7Aug'56VLf 

_^^,_        Hem.  DK 10 ■82 
REC'D  LD 

AUG  1 7  1956 

12IVIar'59BB 


SEP  03 1990 

wnK  SEP  0  6  1990 


LD  21-50m-8,-32 


U.C.   BERKELEY   LIBRARIES 


CD3n7b3TD 

^B  4Go98 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


